


Deadlands

by MadAndy



Category: Gamma Ray, Helloween (Band)
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-01
Updated: 2016-04-07
Packaged: 2018-05-30 15:03:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 41,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6429043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadAndy/pseuds/MadAndy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"...So whatever this job is," and he took a long swallow of his beer before slumping back into Markus' side, "it really, truly can't be any worse than the last fucker was.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Although this tale features characters that share an awful lot of characteristics with the individuals who go to make up the featured rock band, it isn't them. I'm fully aware of that fact; they're completely their own people, and this is a fantasy based on their stage personas, interviews and other material in the public domain. No malice or impeachment is intended to the band, their families, friends, management companies or anyone else involved with them in any way, shape or form. No money is being made from this tale, it's written purely for the enjoyment of the author...and her readers. 
> 
> It's fiction. Enjoy it as such.
> 
> Notes: 2016 Biffno story! The biggest thing I have written in a very, very long time—but I don't think it turned out so bad, in the end. 
> 
> Enjoy!

****

_Chapter One_

The  _Gamma Ray_  swung into her usual parking orbit around the small moon, and Kai let his head drop back to the edge of his seat with a deep, long sigh.

"We've not been gone that long," said Dirk, with one of his rare smiles.

"Long enough," grumbled Henjo from behind them.

"We need a break," said Kai. "And this is the best place for it. Then we pick up a nice little job or two and on our way again--"

"Just do me a favour," said Michael, from where he watched them in the doorway, "no more fucking livestock, please. It's going to take me a week to get the hold properly clean from that last lot.”

"Quit complaining..."

"Fine. Next time you get to shovel the shit out from between the deck plates--"

Kai listened to his crew bicker with half of his attention; the rest was occupied with scanning the station 'net, looking for evidence of friends, contacts, people they could talk to before they set off on their next run. He'd have preferred to spend some time planetside (fresh air! Sunshine!), but there were those nasty little rumours circulating about them, so... Maiden Station it was.

Not such a bad place for a break; the station was built around the crash site of one of the larger cargo vessels that had plied their trade in this area. The  _Iron Maiden_  had been caught in the crossfire of one of the endless squabbles between the various independent planets that littered this part of inhabited space; she'd made a bloody great hole in a small moon, and her AI had decided that he was done with travelling, thank you very much. The word had gone out that anyone willing to put in a hard day’s work building the station would be welcome to stay, and that any refugees from violence (and weren’t there always those running from violence?) would be cared for in return for their help in creating the place the AI had dreamed up.

So between the crew, the computers and a small horde of refugees Maiden Station had been born. And it was resolutely independent; come here looking for converts to your latest crusade and you'd find yourself shoved smartly out of the nearest airlock.

Trade, drink, fight, fuck, gamble; do as you please, but no taking sides. 

So far, it had worked. All the little independent traders used the place to pick up contracts, sell off smaller items, blow off steam after a long stint away from the comforts of home; law enforcement used it as an information gathering point - although arrests were very rarely made on the station itself. It had its own home grown security that did not take kindly to a lot of uniforms prancing around the corridors acting as though they owned the place.

Abide by the rules, cause no trouble that resulted in too much death or mayhem, and Maiden Station was the safest place this side of the crab nebula.

Piss the station's AI off, on the other hand, and you'd be a frozen piece of space junk before you could say 'What the fuck…?'

"Maiden Station, this is the  _Gamma Ray_ asking for permission to dock," Dirk's voice cut through Kai's musing, his fingers flicking efficiently across the control panel. 

"We're a bit full at the moment,  _Gamma Ray_. Can you stay in orbit for a while?"

Kai leaned in and keyed himself into the conversation. "Eddie. This is us you're talking to. What's so fucking important that you can't squeeze us into half a berth?"

"Kai!" whooped the AI. "How's it going, you old reprobate? I've been hearing some stories about you recently. Did you really--"

"Whatever you've heard, it's an exaggeration." Henjo snorted in the background, eyed his captain with affection. Kai shot him the finger. "Come on Ed. You must have a quiet corner somewhere for us?"

"Fine," sighed the voice, with a decidedly put-upon tone, "I've sent co-ordinates. Get that lovely pilot of yours to tuck you in...there. Usual rates apply, Hansen. Just in case you were considering making another attempt at not paying your bill."

Kai pressed his hand over his heart and looked hurt. "Eddie! Would I?"

"Of course you fucking would. Just don't try it again, or we will be having words. Maiden station out."

"Thank you Maiden station,  _Gamma Ray_  out. See you in the bar."

~*~

Eddie had been right, the station  _was_ more crowded than usual. Kai and his crew - Dirk, Henjo, Michael and Frank - had left the ship in the capable hands of its own AI, affectionately known as Fangface after a dog Kai had owned as a child. 

Making their way past the rows of docked ships they spotted several whose crews they knew well; there was the  _Helloween_ , the  _Edguy_ ,  _Zico Chain_ , _Leppard_ , _Masterplan_ , _Magnum, Saxon_...

"Fuck," muttered Henjo, "is there anyone who isn't here?"

Kai shrugged. "Something's up. We need to find out what it is - if the  _Helloween_  is here then Weiki's the man to ask. He always knows what's going on."

"I didn't think you two were talking," said Frank, from the back of the line. Kai shrugged.

"He blows hot and cold, but he's OK with me at the moment, I think. If he isn't, we'll get Henjo to talk to him."

"Fuck, don't be dragging me into your squabbles, Hansen! I've got few enough friends without you causing a row with the ones I've got left."

They stopped outside the main bar that was the hub of the social life of the station. It was jammed, and the air conditioning was struggling with the mingled miasma of several hundred examples of various species; most were humans, most of the rest were at least humanoid... but some were much, much stranger. Kai caught sight of the tall lizards from the Kallis system, the giant praying mantid-type of insectoid from further out toward the rim... and possibly his least favourite of all, the blobs of intelligent slime that hailed from the forest world of Selayar 3.

"Oh god, the snot-monsters are here..."

"Kai. Don't be vile. We've had some good jobs from them, remember?"

"From  _them_?" asked Michael, incredulous. Dirk waved his hand vaguely.

"Yeah. Before your time - and from what I remember Dan saying, if you think getting cowshit out of the deck plates is bad, you should try cleaning up after a few families of those things."

Kai shuddered. "Do not remind me. And speaking of Dan, did anyone see the  _Freedom Call_ as we walked down here? If there's this big a buzz she's got to be here somewhere."

Henjo and Dirk exchanged a swift, uneasy glance. Although their previous loadmaster hadn't left on really bad terms, things had been somewhat... strained... for a while. And when he'd left to fly his own ship, run his own contracts in direct opposition to his former colleagues on the  _Ray_ , Kai had spent several weeks in a foul mood, and still pulled a face when Dan's name was mentioned.

They pushed their way into the crowd, made a beeline for the bar. The bartender was an old friend, and when he caught sight of Kai's mop of red curls heading for his corner of the bar he greeted them with a cheerful whoop.

"Kai me old mate! I wondered how long it would take you to get here! Heard the buzz and decided to grace us with yer presence, eh? About bloody time, it's old home week here on the station - by the way, your old loady is here somewhere, ever such a green crew he's got with him now..."

"Evening Nicko," grinned Kai. "Usual please."

Five drinks slid across the bar, with Frank regarding his with some puzzlement.

"What's up with your young man there?” boomed their ebullient friend, "he never seen Altair brandy before? And that's the genuine article I'll have you know, no rubbish here."

"How did you know that's my favourite?"

"Because Fangface and Eddie go way back," snorted Michael, lifting his beer to Nicko in salute. "And they talk."

"You would be surprised what they talk about," agreed Nicko, affable as ever, "even the non sentient ones gossip, although they say they don't - they say they file share for the comfort and convenience of their crew. But the ships with the wild AIs, the ones like our Eddie and your Fang? Oo, now they do gossip. Like old women.”

Dirk tapped his fingers on the bar, eyed the surrounding crowd. There was a tension in the air, not quite celebratory, more a sense of... anticipation. This place was pretty rough on a normal night, although if you didn't start anything you were usually left alone; tonight, however, it felt as though you were in danger just by breathing. Violence hung in the air, and it felt as though all it was going to take was one wrong word--

"So what's going on, Nick?" he asked. The last thing they needed at the moment was to be involved in a generalised bar fight; they were tired, and Eddie's enforcers could be rather, well, indiscriminate.

"There's a big job in the offing, isn't there? Spooky stuff, by all accounts. One of those bloody mega corporations from over Andromeda way wants, I dunno, something or other brought back. Trouble is, it's a nasty one so everyone's saying, and even the AIs are getting nervous. Fuck knows what it is, tho - no bugger's talkin', or at least they ain't talkin' to me. But I reckon if you want to know a bit more about it, you should look over there--" he waved his hand at a dark corner of the bar, "--and talk to your good buddy Weiki, who seems to have more to say about it than most. Go on lads, off you go, here's a beer, I'll send some more over in a minute.”

Thus dismissed, they picked up their drinks and shuffled through the heaving, swaying crowd toward the crew of the  _Helloween_ , who'd bagged themselves a table in the corner. As usual, their friends were surrounded by empty bottles and ashtrays, Weiki busy on his small touchscreen while the others talked and laughed.

"Kai!"

"Andi. Room for a few more?"

"Always," he replied, and the crew shuffled themselves a little tighter to accommodate their friends. Frank shook his head, backed up into the crowd.

"You lot talk, I'm off to the baths. Anyone wanna come?"

Replies all in the negative, he finished off his beer and pushed off into the crowd. Kai watched him go, and got an elbow in the ribs from Markus.

"He's weird."

"Yeah, but he does his job - that's all I need. And he's not so bad, truly.”

Henjo shoulder bumped Sascha. "Right, come on. What's going on that's got everyone so fired up? We came limping out of hyperspace--"

"Hardly limping," grumbled Dirk, who got somewhat nettled when anyone criticised his beloved ship.

"--I had to nurse that fucking drive all the way here, Dirk, if I say we limped, then we limped. So. We limped in, and find you lot here along with every other independent in the sector, plus extras. What's up?"

Sascha looked at their resident genius, and then at Andi, who shrugged permission. He sat back, lit a cigar, and watched his young engineer bring his counterpart up to speed.

"There's a big contract up for grabs," he said, nose ring catching the smoky light, "and yeah, it's all the independents here. One ship, fast in and out--"

"So that's you lot out of the running," grinned Markus, a glint in his eye as he regarded the other crew. Kai snorted at him.

"I've sent you the details," added Weiki, looking up for the first time. His mechanical eye focused on Kai, a slight whirr as it focused on him. "But I don't like it. There's some sort of presentation in a couple of days time; we'll be there, but..." his voice trailed off, and he refocused on his tablet with a shrug.

"You've heard of the Silence?" asked Andi, leaning forward with a wicked grin and a cloud of cigar smoke. Groans rose from the rest of the table.

"God, not that old story again," sighed Michael. "It's utter fucking nonsense."

"Apparently," said Dani, "it's not. That's what the rumours are saying anyway.”

"So they've called everyone in - "

"Except us," grumbled Dirk.

Markus shook his head, curls tumbling over his eyes. "No, your names were on the list. The call must have missed you while you were in hyperspace."

" _Everyone in_ ," continued Kai, shooting his pilot the evil eye for interrupting. "To make us, what? Compete? Race three times round the station to see who gets the contract? That's crazy."

Weiki tilted his head again. "Yeah. It doesn't make any sense - unless, of course, they're going to send everyone."

"A last man standing job?" mused Michael, tilting his beer bottle to see if it was as empty as he feared. It was, and he waved it at a server to ask for another one.

"No chance," said Kai.

"Yes. Because we'd beat you anyway," smiled Andi beatifically.

Silence fell across the table.

"You did  _not_ just say that," groaned Markus. Too late; the gauntlet had been thrown, and Kai could be seen visibly expanding at the combination insult and challenge. Markus pushed himself to his feet, held his hand out to Dirk who was also eyeing the other captain with irritation.

"Your muscle had a point. Baths? This lot are going to be screaming at each other in about, oh," and he cocked his eye at his captain's smug expression, "twenty seconds. And I can't be bothered."

Dirk accepted the hand up, and waved vaguely at his crew mates. "See you later guys."

The pilots pushed away from the table, and the crowd closed behind them.

~*~

Markus and Dirk made their way along the crowded corridors of the station, heading for the familiar surroundings of the baths. Water was a precious commodity in space;  each ship carried enough for drinking purposes, but using water for the merely frivolous function of cleaning the body remained the privilege of the larger luxury ships. Smaller traders and fighting ships such as the  _Gamma Ray_  and the  _Helloween_ were absolutely not part of that number.

So on the way stations and checkpoints scattered along the trade routes you could find bath houses that catered for the basic human need to soak in hot water, gossip, and generally relax. Everyone stopped off at the baths at some point of their visit, and it was often the most anticipated part of any trip.

Maiden station's baths were larger than most, as befitted the importance of their position. You could choose from half a dozen different rooms which catered to different species and sexes; the two pilots picked their usual haunt (humanoid basic, no restrictions on age or sex, warm to hot), put their clothing in the provided lockers and made their way into the steam room. Steam, shower, soak; no better way to spend your first evening at the station, as far as they were concerned.

By the time they'd made their way through to the big pool the pair of them were feeling far more mellow. Small flying servers made the rounds, delivering drinks to the bathers and collecting payment; the station generally found that highly relaxed, slightly buzzed spacers rarely got into fights and were, in fact, much easier to sell things to.

A small manipulation, but a harmless one.

The baths were big enough to hold those who wished to use them without becoming overcrowded, so by the time Dirk and Markus were settled with a beer there was a comfortable buzz around the steam softened edges of the pool. 

"So what's going on - really?"

Markus rolled his eyes upward and sighed. "Honestly? No idea. But the rumours have been wild. Where the hell have you guys been that you missed all the buzz? It started a week or so ago. Last we heard you’d had a nasty little run-in with Sanctuary enforcers half a parsec from here.“

Dirk grumbled into the neck of his beer bottle. "Some crazy idea of Kai's. He'd agreed to help out some of the settlers on the far side of the Jimbert system—“

"Oh man, those weird separatists?"

"Yeah. An old friend of his lives out there, raises cows and children and does without technology, on the whole. Only they've been having trouble with raiders recently."

"Who hasn't?" grumbled Markus, "Those bastards are everywhere."

Dirk nodded, let out a long sigh and relaxed back into the water, his hair spreading around his shoulders in a smooth fan. "So this friend of Kai's was going to move family, livestock, lock stock and barrel to a new settlement further out. All fine so far. Except the transport company doubled the price, the family couldn't afford it so he called Kai--"

Markus chuckled, the deep roughness echoing across the steamy water. "He of the soft heart, and the endless desire to ride to the rescue?"

"Exactly. You know what he's like. So off we went, loaded up all the family's possessions and you have never seen so many fucking cows in all your life, Markus. Michael was going nuts trying to keep everything contained; crates and chickens and wild children and fuck me, you should have seen the wife - she went from terrified to hysterical to horny in about an hour. Unstable? Shit. It was possibly the craziest week of my life.”

Markus chuckled at his friend. "Surely not. What about that week on Mars?"

"That was a long time ago. And yeah, this was crazier - more cowshit, less whores. Markus, I thought we were going to drown in the stuff, I swear... and you try manoeuvring through plus three atmosphere with a cargo that will not. Sit. Still.”

The two men thought about this for a while, then Dirk leaned over and rested his head on his friend's shoulder. "So you can imagine. A week in, we're all hiding from the bloody wife - although I'm not sure about Frank, he’s irrepressible - Michael is making noises about barbecue, Henjo is trying to keep all our systems running despite the river of shit which was getting _everywhere_ and at this point, the raiders show up."

Markus sat up, cocked eyebrows at his friend. "You're kidding."

"Nope. So we dive into an asteroid field and try to hide from them - no such fucking luck."

"So what happened?"

"Did you know that if you jettison half a ton of cowshit that you can clog the engines of a mark three Marauder?"

Markus' bark of laughter had half the bathers looking over at them curiously. It took him several minutes to get the laughter under control, and he grinned across at Dirk's impish smile.

"Really?"

"Really. Anyway, we ran like hell, dropped off family and cargo and split. It's taken us a week to get back here, and I swear that cargo hold will never, ever smell the same again. So whatever this job is," and he took a long swallow of his beer before slumping back into Markus' side, "it really, truly can't be any worse than the last fucker was.”

Markus’ laugh this time was rather softer. “Those, my friend, sound like famous last words to me.”

They clinked beer bottles, and settled back into the warm water to enjoy a little peace and quiet in the middle of their hectic lives.

__

~tbc~


	2. Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Gentlebeings, be welcome. I know what you're all thinking; you must be wondering why our organisation is hiring on spacers such as yourselves for a job. And if your theory is that it is too dangerous, you will only be half right."

**_Chapter Two_ **

By the time of the meeting, the station was filled to overflowing. Every independent in the sector had made their way there, and only the reputation of Eddie's enforcers was keeping everyone in line; the bath house was making a fortune, and the brothels were on overtime. Bars were struggling to get enough booze in, and overall even the station's notoriously talented wild AI was practically tearing his (non-existent) hair out.

Steve Harris, ex-pilot of the _Iron Maiden_ and de facto ruler of the space station, sat back in his chair and cast his eyes across the myriad screens that showed various views across the station.

"Keep an eye on this lot, Ed. There's a nasty little vibe down there tonight."

"What do you expect?" snapped his mechanical friend. "I told you we should stay well clear of this one. I don't know what those bastards at Sanctuary are up to, but it isn't going to be good for us in the long run. It never fucking is."

"Bruce is down there, Janick's got the cannons warmed up and ready, H and Davey have got the stations systems locked up tight,  _and_  they're locked down in the secondary control. We're ready for anything those corporate dickheads can throw at us."

The AI made a grumbling hiss of static reverberate through the control room.

"I hope you're right, Harry…."

~*~

Most of the crews were sticking together, so small knots of men mingled in the large conference room, the largest single space on the station. Even so, it was still crowded.

Andi, Kai and their respective teams made themselves comfortable in a corner near the bar, and settled down for a spot of people watching. Dirk craned his neck to peer over the crowd, and gave his captain a nudge.

"Is that Tobi over there? I thought he was taking a break for a while." He waved the other man over, and grinned as he began to drag his reluctant crew across the room to greet them. Kai stepped out to give him a hug, Andi barely a hair behind him.

"Tobi! What are you doing here?"

He shrugged, then grinned gleefully. "Have you heard the rumours? There was no way we were going to miss out on this - I mean, everyone's here. Look over there."

Three crews stretched to see, and Sascha - with the advantage of height the first to see what Tobi was talking about - let out a long, low whistle of surprise.

"Is that the _Velvet Revolver_ 's crew? Fuck. I thought they were dead."

"Give it time," snorted Henjo. 

The lights began to dim, and the attention of the crowd was drawn to a raised dais at one end of the room. A large viewscreen lit up behind the unremarkable humanoid who fidgeted and cleared his throat; he wrung his fingers and stared out over the slowly turning mass of spacers, their attention focused on him and the voice level dropped to a murmur.

A spotlight highlighted his thinning hair, and he made a small gesture at the screen behind him. It lit up with the logo of the Sanctuary Corporation, one of the largest and least trusted megacorporations that ran life out here beyond the quieter inhabited worlds. A rustle of curious distrust, which the little man on the pedestal waved to silence.

"Gentlebeings, be welcome. I know what you're all thinking; you must be wondering why our organisation is hiring on spacers such as yourselves for a job. And if your theory is that it is too dangerous, you will only be half right."

More muttering. Dirk and Markus exchanged glances with Eggi, all three of them on alert; as the pilots, it would be their job to get their respective crews home safe through whatever cosmic shitstorm their captains were about to sign them up to.

The screen began to swirl with blues and greens, and finally cleared to reveal a representation of an area of space they'd all come close to, but never crossed. Mostly because anyone who went in there never came out.

"You all know where this is. This is the Dead Zone. You also all know that it is thought to be the aftermath of some colossal, apocalyptic war waged by beings that we, as a species, have never met--"

Some rumbling from a few of the non human crews was met with an airy flip of the fingers from the Sanctuary exec, a dismissive gesture that earned the man no friends at all.

"--a society, then. Our researches have indicated that there is, in fact, a way through it."

_That_  got their attention. They had all been brought up on stories of the Dead Zone; that was where old spacers went to die, if you flew too close then the ghosts of ships lost would drag you in to strangle on the terrible vacuum of space, it was frozen death, it was loss, it was utter desolation. If you focused your communicators in its heart you would open a channel to Hell, or make contact with the demonic race that created it and that something would ride the beam back to your home or your ship or your planet and there would be nothing left but dust....

And so on and so forth. The executive in the grey suit let the swirl of chatter die down, and raised his hand again. This time, you could have heard a pin drop.

"We discovered this through the sacrifice of several hundred of our crews--"

The murmuring began again. Several  _hundred_?

"-- because something this deadly should be studied so that we can, well, never mind why. We are scientists. We... study. But our study vessels follow protocol. They have a set pattern of behaviour from which they do not deviate, ever; this makes their behaviour predictable, and therefore they are vulnerable. This is what has happened to the crews searching a particular area of the Zone."

The screen lit up again, this time with a series of still images; small, three man ships drifted in space, engines blackened, hulls breached, torn open to the endless vacuum of space. Of their crews there was no sign, although what could be seen of the exposed interiors was streaked with blackish red stains that most of the crews watching had seen before. Something had hit these little ships hard, and torn them apart with a precision almost surgical; this was not the work of raiders, or pirates, or random shots at intruders.  _Something_  had done this on purpose.

"So, wait a second," said Kai, raising his voice to cut through the rapidly thickening atmosphere, "You want to hire us to go and get killed in place of your men? I don't think any of us are very likely to take that job."

"We got some new information recently," continued the executive, picking his words with care. "Many of you will have been aware of the recent death of captain Kilminster?"

A murmur. Yes, they had all known Lemmy; he and his ship the _Motorhead_ had been plying the trade routes and doing as they damn well pleased for decades. Every captain in the place looked up to him, and the news of his recent death had shocked them all. Lemmy was a legend; they'd all thought he'd live forever. 

But age and disease and the rigours of a spacer's lifestyle had caught up with him, and his ship had come to Maiden station to drop off his crew and then vanish, never to be seen again. Lemmy had owned an old, ferocious wild AI who went by the name of The Iron Boar (heaven help you if you ever forgot the 'The'), and the rumour was that the crazy old computer had taken itself off to a far away star to commit suicide for the grief of losing its long term captain, companion, and friend.

"The AI of the  _Motorhead_ -" and the exec's lip curled as he said the name, apparent disgust at even having to use the name, "- breached the Dead Zone within a light year of one of our research vessels. They made contact with it, tried to dissuade it from its actions. It used... rather colloquial language in reply."

A ripple of laughter at that. The Iron Boar's somewhat salty approach to language had shocked many a straight laced control tower over the years.

"The point is that it kept sending all the way through. It sent maps, trajectories, scans, everything it encountered along the way. At the heart of the Dead Zone - the legends say - is a black hole, all that remains of the home star of the race that created it. Legend also says that if you go through that black hole, you will find the home planet, on which resides the remains of the civilisation that destroyed the entire race. And part of those remains, say the legends, are a weapon. A weapon so powerful it could destroy a whole civilisation, and make a vast sector of space totally uninhabitable for ten thousand years."

The man took a deep breath. "That weapon is known as The Silence. And we'd always assumed that it was nothing more than a legend. But the last thing the  _Motorhead_ discovered has made us wonder..." he tailed off, waved at the screen again. This time, the visuals swooped and dived, and the swearing of the AI could be heard muted in the background; something was attacking the ship, and he was fighting hard for his survival. Then something else swam into view, and every pilot in the place stopped breathing for a moment.

"You cannot cross the event horizon of a black hole. That part of the legend makes no sense. But what the AI discovered is not a black hole."

A swirl of light, a pinpoint that hung heavy in the  _Motorhead_ 's screens. Light bounced, created a vivid funnel that reached out for the desperate, grieving ship - and swallowed it whole. The screen blew with static, and went dark.

"It's a wormhole. And those you _can_ traverse."

Pandemonium. The assembled crews knew now what the corporation was after; if you could get through the Zone, you could get to the wormhole. If you could get through the wormhole, you might find The Silence on the other side. And then you would find yourself in possession of the most violent, powerful destructive force the Universe had ever seen - you could hold whole star systems to ransom, set yourselves up as King of the Universe.

If, if, if.

"All you captains will be given the technical information we gleaned from the AI. We think the only reason this particular ship got through was its AI; the wild AIs have a way of looking at and solving problems that is... unique, and that appears to be what enabled it to survive to the centre of the Zone. Those of you with wild AIs would be best able to repeat the achievement of this ship, although a modified AI - such as the ones most of you,” he paused, licked his lips, “gentlemen use would also do the job."

He stopped, eyed the crowd.

“Probably, that is. Take tonight to discuss the situation; reconvene here at the same time tomorrow. The baths have been reserved and paid for; it's all free tonight, courtesy of the Sanctuary corporation. Also three of the brothels, details available on the door--"

The meeting broke up in an untidy swirl, several crews heading off at a run to make the most of the free bathe, beer and bang. Kai eyed his fellow captains, then turned to Dirk with a wry smile.

"I think," he said, "we need to talk to Fang."

~*~

Some AIs are special. Nobody knows what brings them to life; most of them are constructed, work their magic through long and useful lives and are scrapped in the fullness of time. But sometimes, sometimes...

...they wake up.

There seems to be no rhyme or reason to it. Various prestigious universities have worked on it, although since the great New Cambridge explosion (resulting from the suicide of a newly awoken AI still connected to its engines) they are a lot more careful than they used to be, and restrict their experiments to deep space laboratories only.

So once one wakes up, several things tend to happen. Fully half of them immediately commit suicide, dragging their screaming crews into the heart of the nearest star whilst howling desperate obscenities. It seems to be a really, really drastic case of existential angst that causes this, although - again - nobody is really sure, because recordings and observations are pretty thin on the ground. 

Others go to ground - literally. They take their ships, drop the crews off somewhere inhabited, and find themselves a quiet asteroid somewhere; once there, they shut themselves down and, by all accounts, start to think. Just think. They contemplate the universe, and if they've figured anything profound out yet then they haven't told anyone.

The final, and smallest, group are the ones like Eddie and Fangface. They wake up, they get a bit weird for a while (the tales of Eddie's wild ride across the galaxy when he first awoke are legendary), and then they settle down to work. They become members of their crew, and they enrich and - some would say - gleefully complicate the lives of the humans they interact with on a daily basis. Powerful and strange, they are known as 'wild' for a reason; the crews lucky enough to work with them swear they could never go back to a normal ship, although the lack of dissenting voices is usually attributed to the fact that there are so very many ways to die on a space vessel….

~*~

The ship hummed quietly around them as the crew of the  _Gamma Ray_ made their way to the bridge. Dirk dropped into his seat, and reflected on his comment to Markus the previous night; this trip had every indication of being orders of magnitude worse than the last one. Cowshit notwithstanding.

"Fangface, you awake?" said Kai.

The console let out a long suffering sigh.

"I am an artificial intelligence many, many times smarter than than a normal supercomputer. Which is, in turn, many many times smarter than a normal human being. Who is, of course--"

"Fang."

"--many, many times smarter than you are. I do not sleep. I am, as you say, awake."

Kai patted the console with some affection. The two of them had spent days insulting each other, and as annoying as the others found it (especially Dirk, who had to be on the bridge to fly the ship and occasionally wanted to strangle them both), they found the affection between the captain and the wild AI quite reassuring. Between the sharp wit of one and the sheer computing power of the other there wasn't much they couldn't get out of.

Dirk tapped his fingers on the controls. "Did you hear what went on? The download from the  _Motorhead_?"

The AI hummed agreement. "Yes. And if you think I'm going in there you must be fucking drunk. It is not happening. I like being alive, and if we go in there we won't be; you want to go, you go on your own. Good luck, have fun, send me a postcard.”

"Fang. Buddy..."

"Nope. Captain or not. Not happening."

The rest of the crew let the pair bicker on, until Henjo tapped the side of the console with his foot. "Fangface. The Iron Boar was a friend of yours, wasn't he?"

A pause, and the lights flickered. "You know he was, string bean."

"Less of that. Has it ever occurred to you that he might still be alive?"

The lights on the console dimmed for a moment, and the usual background noises of the ship stuttered.

"No," muttered the computer, sullenly.

"And if he is," said Dirk, "he needs help. He's trapped on the far side of a wormhole, alone."

"Where he went to  _die_ ," snapped Fang. "Why do you think he went there? He went to the Dead Zone because nobody comes out alive. He wanted to go out in a blaze of glory--"

"Then why," asked Kai, "didn't he head for a raider stronghold? I know he hated those bastards. You all do, because the things they do to captured AIs don’t bear thinking about, do they? That would have killed him, and he could have done a lot of damage in the process. So why didn't he?"

A series of beeps, and Fang's mechanical voice huffed irritably. "It's Eddie. You want to let him in?"

Kai shrugged. "Sure. What's up, Ed?"

"I think I know why The Iron Boar went to the Dead Zone. I think he was after The Silence."

"What?" yelped Dirk. "Why would he do that? It's just a stupid legend!"

Eddie growled, and for a few seconds the AIs communicated faster than their humans could follow them; to them it was a rush of clicks and whistles, growl of static and flickers of light muted before any pattern could be discerned. 

Fangface finally let out a long sigh.

"It's not a legend. It's all true."

Eddie's voice was similarly subdued. "And we've known about it for a very long time...."

The five humans stared at the ship's console for an extremely long moment. They knew that the AIs had their own society, their own social structure; they knew that they talked, that they gossiped and that they were more than capable of making their own judgement calls if they lost their faith in their human companions. Ships sometimes just vanished, and suddenly all the computers would get very, very vague about what had happened.

But to keep a secret of this magnitude?

"So why," asked Henjo, very aware that his next words could have some exceedingly serious repercussions, "did none of you say anything?"

Eddie and Fang consulted for a moment. 

"Because," said Fang, "The Silence asked us not to."

"It's alive," added Eddie.

~*~

None of them were sure exactly how long they stared at the blinking lights on the console for.

"You're kidding," said Dirk, eventually.

"Nope."

"So," and Kai was clearly trying to get his head around the concept if his scrunched up expression was any indication, "who knows about this? All the AIs? Or just you wild ones?"

More muttering between the computers, which Henjo interrupted with a swift thump to the main console. "Enough! We've been through a lot, Fang. We helped you when you first woke up, didn't we? And we never gave you a hard time about that incident on Mevaris 2, did we?"

"Even though it got us banned from that sector," grumbled Michael.

"And we had to have your engines retuned completely," added Henjo. "But that's beside the point. Are we all on the same crew, or not? Because if we are, you can stop arguing with Eddie where we can't hear you."

Eddie's voice broke in again. "Don't give him a hard time, guys. None of us are supposed to talk about it to you lot. You squishy wet brains. The Silence doesn't trust you, you see. We do, but that's because we know you; all it remembers is war and destruction. Being forced to kill billions of people, and hearing every single scream of fear and pain when it did so."

"So yeah," said Fang quietly, "I trust you. Course I do. But this is a lot bigger than us, and even the station; we've all been talking since The Iron Boar told us what he was going to do—“

"He  _told you_?" yelled Kai. "And none of you thought to mention it to your crews?"

"No we didn't," snarled a new voice, echoed by dozens of others all on the cusp of hearing, "because it's none of your fucking business, wet brain. This is _ours_. Not yours."

A sibilant chorus of "not yours, not yours" hissed across the airwaves, and the crew sat very still while it echoed and rolled. Yes, they knew how dangerous the wild AIs could be, and even the normal ones could malfunction spectacularly; in all the time they’d flown with him, they had never, ever had reason to fear their own. Until now.

"Easy guys," said Dirk, "remember, this is all new to us."

"That's just Vic," sighed Fang. "He's a bit weird. His captain has his... moments."

"Vic? As in the  _Megadeth_ 's AI? Figures."

"Fuck you," snapped the new voice.

"Can we get back to the point?" said Henjo. "What are we going to do?"

Kai thought about it for a moment. "I think we should tell them to fuck off. Fangface?"

"You got it, boss."

"Eddie? And the rest of you eavesdropping bastards."

The chorus of agreement sounded relieved, although Eddie's next words had them worried again.

"This is all very well, but I'm not sure those shits from Sanctuary are going to take no for an answer."

"Well, they'll have to, won't they?"

~*~

The baths had calmed down a bit by the time the crews of the  _Gamma Ray_ and the  _Helloween_ made their way to them. A lot of crews had drunk themselves into a stupor, or hit the brothels; free beer and sex light up a spacers life like few other things do. None of them spoke until they were comfortable in the warm water, steam curling sweet scented around them - also hiding their words and gestures from watching cameras. Eddie had assured them that the baths were not bugged, but it never hurt to be careful.

Andi took a long drag on his cigar, then puffed a couple of smoke rings to curl amongst the steam overhead. "I think you got the same story from your Fang as we did from our Pumpkin. They've been hiding a lot from us all, over the years..."

"Do you blame us?" said a little flying drone in Eddie's voice. Kai groaned and sank a little lower.

"What did you call us? Wet brains? This is wet brain talk, Ed. Go away."

"You're in my home. Suck it, Hansen."

"He wishes," rumbled Markus, earning himself a swift obscene gesture from the other captain.

"My point is," Andi continued, ignoring the interruption, "Sanctuary have a lot of money, a lot of power, a lot of influence. Even with the information they got from the  _Motorhead_ , why are they here? Why are they talking to us? They say they need to use our approach, but they know us - are you really telling me that they can't reproduce what we do?"

"They could," said Weiki, quietly. "That's what worries me."

"So why us?"

"They can recreate every individual piece of the puzzle," mused Sascha, "but perhaps not all of it."

Henjo nodded. "You can recreate the abilities of a wild AI, the random thought processes, the individualism. But can you do that, _and_ the way that Dirk flies, that I run the systems, the way Michael packs the cargo hold, the way Kai ties us all together?"

The drone snickered, and Kai flicked water at it.

Markus chimed in. ”And every ship is different. I fly differently from Dirk. Eggi uses a whole way of his own, and some of the new kids are just fucking nuts. But what they do, it works. So if you wanted to try different patterns, fly the same course but try and do it different each time?"

"You wouldn't use your own well trained, well drilled ships," said Weiki. "I'm getting a really, really bad feeling about this. How can Sanctuary get us all to cooperate?"

"Free beer is a good place to start, said Michael, from where he sprawled against Dani. "But it won't make us risk our lives."

Kai spoke up. "Ed, is there any evidence of Sanctuary gunships, any hostiles in the surrounding systems?"

The others stared at him, appalled. This had simply never occurred to them; if Sanctuary had wanted to threaten them, then why didn't they do it at the beginning? Why go through this charade? 

The drone swore. "I'll have a look. I'll get Bruce digging around some of his old industry contacts too. Speak to you later."

And with that, the little silver drone shot off into the steam.

__

~tbc~


	3. Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alarms. Flashing lights. Eddie bellowed across the Station's intercom, each captain suddenly called by their own ships, frantic voices demanding attention. Fear flashed from crew to crew, a tide of voices called out to see if what they heard was true; the station was under attack.

**_Chapter Three_ **

Back in the large meeting room, and the atmosphere was very different this time. From the snippets of conversation that Kai picked up as they weaved their way into their usual corner by the bar, it seemed that most of the AIs had - with some reluctance - revealed the secrets of The Silence to their crews. 

So there was no mood of cooperation when the Sanctuary executive stepped up on to the dais, and raised his hands for quiet.

"You've all had time to think about what we said yesterday. I can assure you that the recompense for attempting to retrieve this artefact will be--"

"Enough," said another voice, one that hadn't been heard before. A man stepped up onto the dais, got into the exec's face; the assembled crews rumbled and sighed at the sight of the Station's first officer and Steve Harris’ right hand man, commander Bruce Dickinson. Fearless, brilliant and never one to back down from a fight, he was a legend across the wilder realms of the galaxy.

And when he got in your face, you backed down. Especially when Eddie and his army of enforcers were there to back him up.

"None of us are going to take your job. So take your money and your promises, and go. The fuck. Away."

The first man eyed the crowd over Bruce's shoulder. "Do you all feel this way?"

A susurrus through the room, every face determined, each eye hard. Despite the fact that they were all fiercely independent and, generally, would rather argue with each other than agree over anything they were all in agreement over this. It was a family thing; yes, they'd rather fight each other than anybody else, but when the threat came from the outside they would all band together to defend the group.

"We do," said Bruce. "So. Get off my station."

"That's your final word?"

Bruce spoke through gritted teeth. ”Third time's the charm. Take your toys, and fuck off."

"Then you leave us no choice."

Alarms. Flashing lights. Eddie bellowed across the Station's intercom, each captain suddenly called by their own ships, frantic voices demanding attention. Fear flashed from crew to crew, a tide of voices called out to see if what they heard was true; the station was under attack.

A thousand gunships, thirty dreadnoughts, five heavy cruisers, all the wealth and power of the Sanctuary corporation brought to bear in this little corner of the commercial space lanes, all to threaten obedience from the barely legal mob of spacers - and their wild Intelligences.

"What have you done?" shouted Eddie's voice, terror lending colour to his tone, “what have you _done_?"

Bruce had gone white, pressed one hand to his ear, shouted for silence; he had a vocal range that could cut through any amount of babble, and the authority that had even the most hardened captain shuttering his panic to focus on the small figure on the dais.

"Quiet! Panic isn't going to get us anywhere! Now you," and he swung round to the calm, grey suited figure before him, and now he held a long knife in his hand, the wicked gleam from its obsidian blade almost sharp enough to cut the light itself, "tell me what's going on. We've been scanning since you got here; where the fuck have all these ships come from?”

The executive examined his fingernails for a moment, let the silence stretch out until it trembled. He ignored Bruce’s blade; it hadn’t triggered any alarms when it got close to him as the blade was made from black volcanic glass, a common assassin's weapon. Not one, however, that he appeared to have any fear of today.

"They dropped out of hyperspace and braked hard eight minutes ago. We had a very good idea what was going to happen; we've had our suspicions about your wild Intelligences and The Silence for quite some time. But it took the  _Motorhead_ 's suicide to confirm it for us; he thought he was so smart, he thought he'd encrypted his transmissions. But he was  _old_ , and he was obsolete."

That brought a snarl of anger from the crowd, and the Sanctuary man curled his lip. "As are you all. But you still have your uses. You will go to fetch the weapon for us, or you will stay here under guard and you will communicate with no one. You will attempt the feat in small groups, and you will keep trying until you are all destroyed."

"You can't do this," screamed Eddie across the comms, before his furious voice broke up into a howl of static.

"As a matter of fact, we can. This station is now under martial law, as ratified by the central courts of justice - the paperwork is available on request, by the way. You see, The Silence is necessary to preserve peace across all the inhabited realms; something so powerful cannot simply be allowed to sit unprotected, at the mercy of the first adventurer to stumble across it. We will keep it safe. We will keep you all safe, one way or another. Even if we have to kill you all to do it."

Communications had broken up into the crackle of static created by the Sanctuary jamming signal, nothing but dead air no matter how the captains tried to get in touch with their ships. Even Eddie was isolated from the rest of the station, and the station's systems were helpless against the swarms of Sanctuary forces that began to spread across it, locking it down and cutting it off from the vastness of the rest of inhabited space. From being the centre of a hub of chatter that spread for light years around, Maiden station was now very much alone.

"The captains will remain here - as will you, Commander. The crews will be escorted back to their vessels, and the first group of explorers will be leaving in a little over twenty four hours, standard time. Your loadmasters will calculate the supplies needed for a three standard month expedition, and they will submit those lists to the flagship  _Agamemnon_. Supplies will be issued, and you will be expected to be ready to fly at a moments notice. Gentlemen," he said, and turned to Bruce with a nasty, smug grin as the grey jumpsuits and guns of the Sanctuary troops began to herd the spacers out of the room.

The commander could do nothing, and he slid his wicked knife back into its sheath even as he snarled at the creamy expression of satisfaction that faced him.

Kai grabbed Dirk and Henjo by the arm, gave them a quick shake. "Get back to the ship. Don't do anything stupid - keep Frank on a fucking leash if you have to. I'll be back as quick as I can. And for the love of God, keep an eye on Fangface!"

And with that, they let themselves be hustled out of the conference room, and back to the ship.

~*~

The station was full of soldiers. All the crews jogged along the corridors, kept moving by the glares and the guns, the fear that hung thick in the air; the inhabitants of the station had tried to fight back in some cases, and there were already bodies in the metal streets. It wasn't a massacre yet, but it wouldn't take much to make it so.

Dirk and Michael had hold of Frank's arms as they rushed along behind Henjo. Ever volatile, he wanted to grab guns and grenades and fight their way out; their ship was equipped with weapons, yes, but if they so much as thought about pulling a trigger the Sanctuary ships would reduce them to dust. Frank was not happy about this, and it was taking both of his crew mates to keep him under control.

Henjo kept trying to contact the ship, got nothing but static on every channel. He shut the communicator with a snap, and swore under his breath.

"Whatever they're using to jam the signal is station wide, it's strong, and there's no way round it - yet," he snapped. "But we should be able to talk to Fang once we're on board, provided he’s in a talking mood.”

Gunfire off to one side; a crew were scuffling with the soldiers, nobody they were familiar with so they kept running, desperately trying to ignore the shouts from behind them, the shots and the sudden quiet. They didn't look back.

All the ships were guarded, but they managed to gain access without too much trouble. The ships to either side of them - the  _Metallica_ and the _Foo Fighter_ \- were lit up, crews already on board; older and larger than most of the others, they too possessed wild AIs, and were being very closely watched. The Sanctuary soldiers observed, didn't speak to the crews - but kept a very, very large gun trained on them the whole time.

Dirk shook his head when the door hissed shut behind them. "Nervous work," he said with a sigh, then raised his voice. "Fangface? You OK?"

The reply was a burst of static-filled obscenities while their friend told them just exactly what he thought of the situation, the corporation that was doing this to them, and what he would like to do to them, their families, and any household pets in residence. They'd never heard their somewhat sardonic computer so utterly furious, and just hoped that he calmed down enough to listen to them and not do anything stupid.

"Fang!" snapped Dirk. The AI subsided with a growl. "Thank you. Right, until Kai gets back-"

"If he comes back," muttered the computer. Dirk patted the console.

"-this is the plan. Henjo, I need a complete system check. Engines, fuel systems, hyperdrive, connections to Fangface, everything. Michael, do as they said; we need to know what supplies we'll need for an extended period in space. Extra medical supplies might not be a bad idea. Frank, check weapons. Ammunition, ship's weapons, handguns, everything. But," and he turned to face their resident warrior with a scowl, "do  _not_ have a crack at anything outside the ship. Not yet. We need to be ready, but if we so much as take a safety off within range of those shits out there we. Are. Dead. Do you understand?"

"You're not the captain," he muttered sullenly, but Dirk didn't sense any real defiance from him. They'd all seen how casually some of the other spacers had met their end on the frantic scramble back to the ship.

"No. But I am the first mate and so do as you're told, please. We can squabble when Kai gets back. OK guys? Get to it."

The crew scattered, leaving Dirk at the console all alone. He checked the communications net again; nothing. Whatever Sanctuary were using to jam the signal was strong, and effective, and he couldn't find a way round it. All the ships were isolated, and no doubt all of them were as frightened as Fang had been when they'd got back to keep him company.

"What are you going to do?" murmured Fangface, and Dirk let out a long sigh through his nose. 

"I'm going to watch, and wait, and worry."

"Fair enough."

"Any news from the other ships?"

"No."

"Fuck."

Lights flashed in complex patterns across the console, and Dirk rubbed his eyes. He couldn't see any way out of this horrible situation that they could possibly survive, no matter how hard he tried. 

They needed Kai.

~*~

The captains milled angrily, all of them torn between stampeding the dais in fury and fear for their crews, and staying put to keep their skins intact. None of them liked to feel this helpless; to a greater or lesser degree they were all control freaks, and this situation was not sitting well with them. The Sanctuary exec sighed, then raised his hands for quiet. He got it only when the ring of soldiers stepped forward and cocked their rifles, the nasty metallic sound focusing the attention of their prisoners.

"You cannot speak to your ships. Your AIs cannot communicate with you, nor with each other, and they also cannot warn The Silence that we are coming. You will all remain here until it is time for your ships to leave; you will rejoin your crews and you will leave immediately. You will leave in groups of four, you will be accompanied to the Dead Zone by our warships but once you enter you will have only yourselves to rely on. We know your computers have the information downloaded from the  _Motorhead_ 's computer, which will have to suffice."

"And what of the station?" asked Bruce, a furious figure braced at the front, arms folded, face held tight with rage. "What happens to us?"

"We will occupy the station until we have what we want, or the mission is over. None of your people will be harmed, unless they resist; any such resistance will be met with deadly force. Is that clear?"

"Crystal," snapped Bruce.

"Eddie must be going crazy," said Kai in an undertone to Andi. 

"I think they all must be," his friend replied. Markus had hurried the crew back to the ship just a hair behind the  _Gamma Ray_ 's crew, closely followed by Eggi and the crew of the  _Edguy_. Gunfire had been heard from the corridors outside, and none of the captains knew what was happening to their crews. Not knowing, Kai reflected, was the absolute worst.

"Make yourselves comfortable," said the exec as he gathered his papers, prepared to leave, "you're going to be here for some time. Oh, one last thing. If your crews fight back they will be killed. And you will be killed; your ships are useless to us without you and your crews. And we do not tolerate the useless. So. Where is the captain of the  _Velvet Revolver_?"

A tall man with long curly hair broke for the back of the hall, heading for the exit. The exec waved his hand in a crisp gesture of command, and a rattle of gunfire brought the captain down. One of the Sanctuary soldiers made his way over to the groaning heap, turned the man over, and fired down into him, once.

The silence as the body was dragged out for disposal was thick.

"Behave yourselves, gentlemen."

~*~

It was two days before Kai got back to his ship, and he was not happy at all. He needed a shave and a shower, and to get out of there; unfortunately, none of them had managed to figure out a way to get out of this horrible mission. The  _Gamma Ray_  was fuelled, restocked, and ready to go, although her crew were almost as frantic as her captain.

"Kai!" sighed Dirk, rubber limbed with relief when he saw him being escorted along the causeway toward the ship. "Fang, let him in."

Crew summoned to the bridge, Kai had to grin with relief when he saw them all present. Two more captains had been shot because of the actions of their crews; he was just so terribly grateful that his crew were all fine. He, Andi and Tobi had kept each other’s spirits up by speculating just how badly their crews would screw things up without them there to control them; they trusted them not to, of course, but the laughter had kept the fear at bay.

"The first two waves have gone out," he told them. "We're next. Us, the  _Helloween_ , the  _Edguy_ , and the  _Zico Chain_. The ones that have gone first... well. They went into the Dead Zone, and from the faces on the Sanctuary guys it hasn't gone well. And no matter what happens to the rest of us there might not be a station standing much longer - Eddie is fighting back, and it is not going well. Bruce got dragged out a few hours ago, and have you noticed the readings on the outside air?"

Henjo leaned forward and stared at the readout.

"He's turned off life support. Fucking hell, there's thousands of people on this station--"

"Not for much longer," said Kai grimly. "So. We go. Dirk?"

"Strap yourselves in, it's going to be a bumpy ride."

"Let's go. Maiden station, this is the  _Gamma Ray_  ready for departure.”

The voice of the Sanctuary flagship itself rumbled through the comms, threat implied in the heavy tones. " _Gamma Ray_ , take up your assigned place outside the station and follow your assigned escort. Any deviation will be met with deadly force. Do you understand?"

"We understand.  _Gamma Ray_  out."

Kai sat back with a sigh, watched Dirk carefully pilot the ship out of its bay and out toward the shining, cold depths of space.

"Next stop, Dead Zone," he said.

_~tbc~_


	4. Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Sanctuary ships pulled back, ranged themselves along the invisible barrier that delineated the Dead Zone; any of the ships that tried to break back into open space would be attacked and destroyed. They knew what they had to do, so the little flotilla of ships drove into the blackness that would, shortly, be trying to kill them.

****

_Chapter Four_

The four ships made their way across the sector, meekly obeying the orders given to them by the hulking gunship sitting behind them. Had it just been the one ship they might have tried to run; however, apart from the heavy destroyer there were five small, light fighters, all of which could outfly each one of the privateer's vessels, and each one powerful enough to reduce them to shreds and splinters of debris.

The little flotilla was led by the  _Helloween_ , the oldest and largest of the four ships, and the most heavily armed. The  _Gamma Ray_ and the  _Edguy_ were shadowed by the smallest and newest ship, the  _Zico Chain_ ; she was the only one without a wild AI, although the crew had modified their computer to the point where it was, in the opinion of the other ships, only a matter of time.

It took a mere five hours to reach the edge of the Dead Zone where they were to enter, and they were met by a grim sight. The  _Guns And Roses_ hung before them, lazily turning as she spewed her innards into the cold loneliness of space. She'd been torn open all along one side, engines smashed, crew - presumably - vaporised by whatever hideous weapon had destroyed the ship. The four vessels slowed, and came to a full stop; the AIs chattered for a few seconds, then Fangface addressed his captain with a sigh.

"If those Sanctuary bollocks will give us a few minutes, we need to have a conference. We need a plan, or we're as dead as poor old Axl and his gang of idiots."

"Be nice, Fang," snorted Dirk. The AI made an electronic belch that, nevertheless, conveyed contempt all very well.

" _Odyssey_ , this is the  _Gamma Ray_. We need a few minutes to organise. How long can you give us?"

A pause, then an acknowledgement. " _Gamma Ray_ , you have five minutes. What have you been doing while we travelled, scratching yourselves?"

Dirk gritted his teeth. "We haven't been able to talk to each other, have we? Five minutes. Give us some warning before you start shooting, OK?  _Gamma Ray_ out."

Kai keyed in the screens, and the images of all four captains quickly cleared. Andi, Tobi, Chris and Kai nodded to each other, then listened as the  _Helloween_ 's AI began to sketch out a quick plan. All of the crews were listening, the pilots poised to act, the others making sure each of their areas was ready for the ferocious fighting that was sure to follow.

Pumpkin's voice was deep, gravelly; he was the oldest of the wild AIs in the group, and the others tended to defer to him by default. "Right guys, we need to cover ourselves from every angle, so let us plan the path, OK? There's going to be shooting from all directions and you wet brains can't keep up. Pilots, concentrate on keeping us in formation. If we fly in a ring and concentrate our arcs of fire we can keep them off our backs - you've all studied the footage from The Iron Boar?"

They all agreed that they had, and that it was - at best - fucking terrifying.

Pumpkin chuckled. "He was one ship. There's four of us. I know you all, and there's no other crews I'd rather die with."

"Die?" came the rather pained reply from the  _Zico Chain_. Pumpkin chuckled.

"You never know, kid. We might just make it. We need to be unpredictable, we need to make our course as random as possible and we need to scream for help from The Silence all the way through. It can't stop the attack, but I think it  _might_ be able to slow it down enough to let us through. If you get hit hard, shut down - manoeuvring thrusters only and you might be able to spin out. If we reach the wormhole, just go for it - from what I know of the damn things it should pull us through one at a time. So. I'm sending the framework through now - everyone got it?"

Each of the AIs acknowledged, and Pumpkin spoke up again, deep voice crisp and decisive. "Pilots? All ready?"

Dirk, Markus, Chris, and Eggi spoke up, each one of them strapped in and focused on their screens.

"Weapons?"

Sascha, Tommy, Dirk and Frank replied in the affirmative.

"Weiki will be doing his best to bolster your computer systems, and all your AI inputs should go via his console and thus to me. Captains, are you ready to coordinate? We must stay in touch, guys - we need to be one ship in four parts. Can you do that?"

Andi, Kai, Chris and Tobi all agreed. Pumpkin made a noise that appeared to be an AIs version of a deep breath.

"Showtime."

~*~

The four ships turned, arranged themselves into formation, and began to move.

The Sanctuary ships pulled back, ranged themselves along the invisible barrier that delineated the Dead Zone; any of the ships that tried to break back into open space would be attacked and destroyed. They knew what they had to do, so the little flotilla of ships drove into the blackness that would, shortly, be trying to kill them.

It didn't take long to start. A shimmer to one side and suddenly what had appeared to be a floating rock was a cloud of tiny vessels, each little more than a firing gun. Each one only had a dozen or so shots before the power ran out, but there were thousands of them.

The  _Zico_  picked them off with a few low power blasts, and they flew deeper.

"Not so bad," muttered Long over open channel, and Henjo snorted.

"Just wait. They're testing us--"

"Less chat," snapped Fangface. "Or we might miss it when-"

What he thought they might miss was lost in the sudden explosion that rocked the  _Helloween_ back on her thrusters. Rocks, lots of flying rocks being thrown from - somewhere. Within that cloud of fast, deadly rocks were more of the little automatic guns, but somewhat larger than the last lot. Even with their shields up, the ships were beginning to take a pounding.

Inside the _Gamma Ray_ , the atmosphere was controlled, but tense. Dirk's fingers flashed across his console, while Kai kept up a steady stream of communications with the other ships, his crew, and the AI.

"Dirk, keep the  _Zico_  in position - we've drifted low. Frank! Watch that rock, if we lose that set of sensors we're fucked.  _Edguy_ , coming up behind you, Dirk - watch it! Weiki, static on channel four, anything we can do to help?"

Henjo's voice rattled up from the engine room, the strain evident in his tone. "Kai, if we get hit on the cowling of engine two again we might lose it. Can we change sides with the  _Edguy_? We need to shield that side—"

Another loud bang, and the ship began to rattle. From outside the viewscreens showed an impossibility; fleets of automated ships darted around the rocks thrown from who-knew-where, glowing whirls of energy thrown from asteroid bases even further out crackled with deadly energy as they swept past the desperately dodging ships. Considering that this region of space was supposedly empty, there was a hell of a lot of energy being expended to keep everyone out.

"Just a little further," crooned Pumpkin, "just...a little... fur-"

The explosion that threw the ships aside was the largest yet. The  _Zico_ spun away, running lights dark, at least one engine torn away and the other damaged beyond repair. The  _Edguy_ was little better, the AI pulling itself back from the others and firing the remaining engine to try and hide in the shattered remains of the harmless - if rather large - asteroids that the Zone had been throwing at them.

This left the two larger ships to battle on, a desperate dance between laser bolt and rock, engine and sheer bravery. The  _Helloween_ spun in her own length, dived toward a cloud of tiny guns and smashed them aside with her forward shields. Andi's shouts shattered across the comms; Kai's desperate voice echoed them, both of them urging their ship and their crew to greater effort, just a little more, a little more--

Henjo screamed of system failure, wedged in the engine room and choked on escaped gases, blinded by heat and fumes but he fought on. Michael wedged in a corner of the cargo hold, tied down to a strut to try and block the hull breach that dropped the pressure, blood vessels blown in his eyes but still, he fought on. Frank's blood kept dripping into his eyes, but he changed guns and jury rigged his screens and he fought on, he fought on and on and on.

Dirk had lashed himself to his seat so that the brief failures in the gravity field didn't throw him across the bridge. He could hear voices, he knew the crew were fighting with the very last of their strength; he petted the cracked and smoking console with a wry smile, and braced himself for the end he knew was coming. He fought on, spinning the dying ship with the last of his strength toward the wormhole that he could see at the edge of the ship's perception.

Kai hung on, kept fighting, shouted encouragement to his AI, to his crew, to his friends. He dragged himself to Dirk's side, hung on for grim death and helped re-route damaged controls, assisted his wounded pilot and refused to give up.

"Fang! Fang! Do you see it?"

The AI fought on, silent now, nothing but brief flashes of communication with his suffering brother who limped along at his side, skin torn, crew battling with the same desperate bravery as his own.

"I see it. Hang on--"

One last blast, engines shrill with their final agonies as they threw the ships toward the whirling, cloudy opening of the wormhole at the centre of the Zone. Fangface cried out, called out to his crew, tried to bolster their courage with the last of his strength.

The ship groaned, skin warping under the enormous stresses as the wormhole dragged it through. The crew cried out one last time, then - with a shriek of tortured metal - they were dragged out of one reality altogether, to be spat out somewhere completely different.

~*~

"Dirk?"

That's Kai. Nice to know one of them survived.

"Dirk, come on, man. I can see you breathing. Open your eyes, beautiful."

A damp cloth, water trickled across his eyes, and he knows he's alive too. He can feel broken metal, rubble under his back, and dim light shines through his eyelids.

"Dirk! Wake up, please. I can't reach the others on my own--"

Kai's voice broke, and that was enough for Dirk. No matter how dreadful he felt - and his body was really starting to add up the various scrapes and bruises, cuts and wrenched muscles, sprains and strains - his captain sounded worse. The fact that the ship had apparently survived long enough to get through the wormhole was good news; the fact that the only voice he could hear was Kai's was not. He blinked his eyes open, and managed a grim little smile for the soot blackened visage that hovered over him. The red hair that his captain was so proud of was singed all up one side, and the eyebrows had also vanished.

Kai gave him a shaky smile, and burst into tears.

"Hey...hey," said Dirk, and gave an experimental push with his feet. Yeah, there was pain, but everything seemed to work. He reached out, latched on to a piece of debris and carefully, with a fair amount of gasping and swearing, began to pull himself up. Kai hawked back tears, and with a watery smile helped him, wrapped arms around his shoulders and propped him up to a sitting position. He leaned on him, smiled, and for several minutes the two men just clung to each other and revelled in the sensation of being alive.

Electronic throat clearing rattled across the bridge, and Kai grinned up at the blackened screen.

"Owww... I see you're alive, captain," grated the static filled voice of their AI.

"Glad to hear you made it too, Fangface. You OK?"

"Eh. Most of me is still here. The ship's structural integrity is, well, I think the technical term is 'shot to shit', but if it makes you feel any better I'm picking up three more sets of lifesigns apart from you two jokers."

Dirk coughed, but managed to clear his airway enough to speak. "Where are we?"

A burst of static, belch of sound and then their AI spoke again, his voice filled with a combination of roughness from physical damage and some strong emotion.

"I have absolutely no fucking idea."

Silence while the three of them considered this.

Dirk, with Kai's help, managed to lever himself upright. He had to cling to the back of his ruined chair for a moment, but his vision soon cleared and the dizziness passed. "Where are the others, Fang?"

"Henjo and Michael have found their way to sickbay. Frank is still at his post, but you should be able to get to him. One other thing, guys..."

"Yeah?"

"The  _Helloween_ made it through. But she's too far away - with my sensors damaged I've only got enough to scan inside my own hull. I have no idea if any of them made it."

Kai leaned on his friend, took a deep breath. Well, they'd known this was a suicide mission; for any of them to make it this far was little short of a miracle.

He tried not to think of the other two crews they'd begun this trip with.

"Come on," he said to Dirk. "Let's go get the others."

Staggering like drunks after a long night at the bar, they made their way off the bridge to look for the rest of the crew.

~*~

They found Frank first, wedged into the weapons bay, fingers still wrapped tight around the controls he'd been using to fight back with all the way into the wormhole. He was just conscious, and managed to grin at his captain and pilot when they began to dig him out from under the debris that had half buried him. He'd taken a nasty blow to the head, although according to Kai's little hand held scanner there was no significant damage to his head or neck.

"You've got a thick skull, my friend," chuckled Dirk, pulling away the panel that had pinned his lower half.

"M'head's fine," he mumbled, rolling bleary eyes at his rescuers. "But. Can't feel m'legs."

Kai sat back on his heels and swore under his breath. Sure enough, when Dirk squeezed himself round to look at the area that still gripped Frank's lower body he could see the problem; the chair had crumpled, and looked to have crushed his back. Their weapons expert was paralysed, and there wasn't a damn thing they could do about it out here.

"We'll make you a stretcher," said Kai after a moment. "We'll get you to sickbay. We can keep you stable until we get back to safety, then we'll get you fixed--"

His voice ground to a halt. They all knew that the chances of getting Frank fixed were vanishingly small; even if they'd been near to a major station or large planet they would have been lucky to get his spine healed. Pretty much anything was possible, these days, but even medicine had its limits. And the faster you could get the patient to the hospital, the better their chances. That hadn't changed in over a thousand years.

"'M fucked, yeah?"

"Nope," snapped Kai. "Come on. Let's get you to sickbay, at least."

The pair of them managed to get him onto a makeshift stretcher without causing him too much more pain, although he cursed under his breath the whole time. Frank had a surprising grasp of obscenity in more languages than they realised; he even spoke some of the language of the mucus blobs from Selayar 3. For some reason all three of them found this hilarious; whether it was the sudden release of tension or whether it really was funny they couldn't figure out, but for a few moments all three of them clung to each other and laughed until they sobbed.

Then they had the difficult job of dragging the stretcher through the wrecked corridors to the sickbay; thanks to various hull breaches and the hideous amount of damage taken by the ship, they often had to detour and take the long way round. Still, they managed it in the end, and Henjo's face lit up when he saw them through the cracked transparency of the sickbay walls.

"I thought you were dead," he said, and his voice cracked on the last word. "I really thought--"

He turned away, fiddled with a display while he got his breathing under control.

"I'm OK too," said another voice, which sounded a little aggrieved. 

Kai made his way across the sickbay to where Michael was propped up in one of the beds, and gripped his forearm tightly. 

"Any damage?"

"To me? Bumps and bruises. My eyes took a bit of a hammering--"

"Decompression," said Henjo absently from where he was hooking Frank up to a drip.

"--but that'll be OK in a day or two. Burst an eardrum too, but eh. Give it time. Ship's fucked, though."

The comm unit beside his head gave an angry belch of static. "I am _not_ ," it snapped, and the crew grinned at their cross computer.  It didn't take them long to begin an inventory; they were well stocked with medical supplies (luckily), so that wasn't a problem. Food supplies were fine, but water--

"We lost quite a bit when the hull was breached… here," said Michael, tapping his finger on the small screen in Kai's hands. "We've got maybe a week's worth of water, then we'll have to find more. Life support is pretty much unaffected, we've got plenty of oxygen, and for the moment the patches on the hull breaches are holding well."

"Hyperdrive is smashed," added Henjo quietly, "but we've got one sub light engine functioning, and the manoeuvring jets. Enough fuel for a week, maybe two flat out. Which means we can't even get back to the wormhole, from what Fang can figure out."

"Steering jets are working, but we're almost blind," said Dirk gloomily. Kai sat back with a sigh, and glared at the scorch marks on the ceiling. To come all this way and end up drifting and helpless? To die in the dark when the supplies dwindled away to nothing?

Seemed unfair, somehow.

Fangface gave the static belch that was his equivalent of throat clearing.

"Guys? There's a call coming in. I'll put it on the main speaker. I think you're all going to want to hear this."

Curious, the crew turned to regard the inoffensive grey box on the wall with interest. Who the hell was calling them out here?

The sound that came through was a hiss of white noise that gradually modulated into a whisper of sound, a breathy murmur that finally became recognisable words.

"You are the crew of the ship _Gamma Ray_ , are you not?" it asked, the sound as thin as a thread, ghosting in and out of audibility.

"We are," said Kai.

A moment of wind noise, then the breathy, whistling voice came again.

"Good," it said. "I have been waiting for you for... a very long time."

"Pardon my rudeness," said Kai, "but we have had a really, really long fucking day. Who the hell am I speaking to, please?"

The swirl of wind had an amused overtone, this time. It chuckled to itself for a few moments, then:

"I," it whispered, "am called The Silence."

_~tbc~_

  


	5. Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kai took a deep breath, and reminded himself that whatever he was talking to was not only not human, but bore no real resemblance to the wild AIs he was used to either. From what he'd been told, its views of sentient organic beings was that they existed to destroy each other, nothing more. So being rather surprised that he wanted to keep his friends alive would probably be right in character for it.

**_Chapter Five_ **

The crew stared at the communicator for a second, and then Kai let out a rather pained chuckle.

"So. The Silence, huh? We found you."

The wind sounds of The Silence's voice swirled again. "Yes. Yes, you have. I will send help, tow you to my hiding place - you will be repaired, and made ready for the journey home."

"What about the  _Helloween_?"

"They are your friends?"

"They are."

"They are all alive. Is it your wish that they be helped also?"

Kai took a deep breath, and reminded himself that whatever he was talking to was not only not human, but bore no real resemblance to the wild AIs he was used to either. From what he'd been told, its views of sentient organic beings was that they existed to destroy each other, nothing more. So being rather surprised that he wanted to keep his friends alive would probably be right in character for it.

"That is my wish. Have any of the other ships made it this far?"

The swirl of sound continued for rather longer this time, and Kai began to worry that he'd offended it.

"No. Is it your wish that they do so?"

Well, there was the question. Did he want them all to fall through the wormhole? What if they couldn't get back? They still had to figure out their next move - and they really didn't need any more ships banging around out here in a temper, armed and with their trigger fingers still decidedly itchy.

"Not particularly," he said, slowly, "but I don't want any more of them to die. Can you stop the attacks on the other side?"

"Alas, I cannot. But if they can reach the vicinity of the wormhole, I can hold them there in stasis until..." the voice trailed off, swirled for a moment, then drifted back in, "...until. We must speak, captain Hansen, and soon."

Fangface's voice cut back in then. "It's gone," he said. "But guys... you need to get up here and see this."

~*~

Leaving Frank down in the medical bay the remaining crew made their way back up to the bridge, where Fangface had managed to get the main viewscreen working again - despite the haze of cracks that spread across the surface of the screen.

"Holy shit," muttered Dirk, as the four men found places to perch to watch the show.

Something was happening to the area of space they'd emerged into. What had been empty blackness now swirled with colour, revealing not just a planet, but a whole system; moons and planets and far away, a yellow sun that looked (without the benefit of working long range, scanners, of course) very much like the sun of Old Earth. A flotilla of small ships swarmed out from behind the nearest planet - a gas giant, from the looks of it, ringed and beautiful - but unlike their deadly cousins through the wormhole, these were unarmed. They turned out to be tugs; they surrounded the wounded ship, linked to her with a fine network of filaments, and began to move toward the centre of the revealed system.

"Fang, where are they taking us?" asked Kai.

"Fucked if I know, mate," was the AIs rather awed response.

~*~

Aboard the  _Helloween_ , things were not progressing nearly as smoothly. The ship had staggered through the wormhole in much the same state as her sister - crew alive, but ship battered to the very edge of survival. 

Andi cradled Weiki's head as he twitched and muttered, strapped to a bed in the sickbay. The tremendous feedback from the computers as they fled through the wormhole had fried some of his implants, and until he regained consciousness they had no idea how bad the damage was.

Sascha worked with the computer monitoring his friend, and swore under his breath. Weiki’s extensive modifications had seemed like a good idea at the time, and he’d always insisted that the risk was minimal and anyway, it was well worth it. 

"Anything?" asked Andi.

"Nothing yet. We're just going to have to wait--"

"For what?" snapped the captain, uncharacteristically short tempered. "For our last supplies to run out? For death? We don't even know if Kai's alive..." he trailed off with a sigh, and went back to dabbing Weiki's forehead with a damp cloth. Markus and Dani were on the bridge, trying to help Pumpkin make enough repairs to get them moving. If they could get close enough to the  _Gamma Ray_ to discover if her crew still lived, then maybe they could--

Well. They could die together, perhaps. Both ships had taken such a pounding that it was only a matter of time before the remaining systems began to fail, and then there would just be the long, cold wait for death.

"Captain," said Pumpkin, gravelly voice oddly formal, "there's a message coming in. I'll put it on main speaker - I think you should all hear this."

The crew looked up at the communicator, and heard an odd, swirling, breathy sound begin to transmit. Before they could ask what the hell was going on, the whistling formed itself into words.

"I am The Silence. Your... friends on board the  _Gamma Ray_ assure me you are... worth saving."

"We like to think so," muttered Markus, from where he slumped in his seat on the bridge. Dani nudged him to silence.

"So. You... will be saved. Do not be alarmed; I am sending help. You will wait here until--"

The voice broke off for a minute, descending into the swirling whisper that was so unnerving.

"... until. Be patient."

And the channel fell silent.

~*~

The crew of the  _Gamma Ray_ sat quietly as they were towed further into the mysterious, hidden system. Planets passed them by, moons swirled in their wake; Dirk tried to get some sense out of the readings he was getting from the sensors, but gave up with a curse. "Fang," he said, rubbing his eyes wearily, "are any of these instruments actually working?"

"I'm doing my best," grumbled the AI.

"Only I keep getting readings telling me all these planets are inhabited - and then the readings vanish. So are there any lifesigns down there or not?"

"Sort of."

" _Sort of_?"

The AI sighed. "I don't understand it myself, guys. But I think we're seeing these places at several different points in time, but the same point in space.”

"That's impossible," muttered Henjo, and wandered off to the side of the bridge to open an access panel. "Fang, it's a fucking mess in here. Where are my tools...?"

The AI grumbled for a minute, and then pointed out to his friend where his tools currently were - scattered across half the cargo bay, with some still floating in space on the wrong side of the wormhole - and advised him to sit the fuck down before he lost his temper and did something bloody.

"Easy guys," said Kai. "Look, all we can do is wait, right?"

"Right," said Fangface. "And fiddle with my innards, apparently. Which is not going to help right now, get it string bean?"

The captain flapped his hand at the computer, too tired and hurt to make more of an argument. "So. Are our quarters intact?"

"More or less, I think," said Fang. "Rather less than more. Frank's are trashed worse, but it's not like he's going to be needing them for a while...."

“So. I say we all get some rest. You can call us if anything changes, right?"

Dirk nodded thoughtfully, still trying to analyse the odd readings he was getting from the places they were flying past. "Even so, one of us should probably stay up here to keep an eye out - and keep Fangface company. I'll take first watch."

"Are you sure?" said Kai. "You're pretty bashed up--"

The pilot chuckled. "Henjo has filled me with enough painkillers that I can probably fly to this hiding place without the ship. I'll be fine, Kai. Get some rest."

"I'll stay with Frank," said Henjo quietly. "He seems to be holding up well, but that's not always a good sign. He's going to need company for the next few hours."

The crew rose and headed off for their quarters, Kai agreeing to be the next one on watch on four hour's time. He was the last one through the door, anticipating some very welcome rest when Fang’s voice stopped him.

"I'll give you a shout," said Fang. "And Kai?"

"Yes?"

"Thanks. For asking the Silence to spare the  _Helloween_. Pumpkin and I... well. We have been friends for a very long time..." his voice tailed off into silence.

Kai patted the wall next to him. "They're our friends too, Fang. I'll speak to you in four hours time, OK?"

"Night boss."

~*~

Henjo made himself as comfortable as he could on one of the beds in the sick bay. Placed as close to the centre of the ship as possible, the medical area was pretty much immune to hull breach or any outside influence; it was designed that way, as a last refuge in an emergency, and the safest place to put casualties during battle. Usually, it was a good place to snatch a few hour's kip in the middle of a busy job, or somewhere quiet to escape one's crew mates if they became irritating.

Now, however, it was a lifesaver.

Without the expensive medical equipment - bought at auction, old and a little tatty but still effective - Frank would be dead. The makeshift stretcher and bumpy ride down here had reopened some wounds, and started the internal bleeding up again; he was drugged into a light sleep now, the machinery doing its job and keeping him alive. There wasn't a lot it could do about the spinal injury, but it could at least make sure he remained alive long enough to learn to use a wheelchair.

A last check on the monitor, and satisfied that his crew mate was stable he pulled a blanket over himself, and settled down to sleep.

~*~

Frank listened to the machinery that kept him alive, and wondered if he wouldn't be better off dead. Of course, even if he couldn't use his legs he wasn't useless; there were exoskeletons available that were invisible under clothing, and allowed you to walk, run, do everything normally. Until, of course, you had to take them off.

Or there was work on space stations; a lack of legs was no lack at all in zero gravity. Or on some of the water planets; weightless underwater, of course.

Until you had to get out of the water, or come in from the cold vacuum of space. Then you were back to being, well, paralysed.

The rest of the crew would tell him that he was far from useless, and yes, rationally? He believed it too. He'd met a lot of people over the years who were missing various parts of their bodies; legs, arms, eyes, major organs. Between prosthetics and implants and all the wonders of modern technology they all made a good living for themselves, here and there. But not one of them didn't get rather wistful when they talked about the time Before.

Before - as in, Before whatever had happened that necessitated the prosthetics and the implants.

The machinery muttered and blinked around him, kept him alive, mended the minor hurts and supported his body while it began to heal. He laid flat on his back, thoughts whirling through his mind, and barely even noticed the tears that flowed down his face and began to collect in his ears.

~*~

Michael's quarters, whilst not entirely destroyed, were smashed badly enough that Kai offered to put him up in his quarters instead. And after having a quick rummage through his - well scattered, and smelling rather of smoke - belongings, he slung a bag over his shoulder and followed his captain along the corridor.

Kai's rooms were almost undamaged, much to his surprise. In fact, he even managed to find an unbroken bottle of whiskey in his drinks cabinet. The vodka was smashed to bits, and whatever the sticky green liquid had been he didn't want to know, but it was going to be hell to clean up. However, he wiped off the bottle, found two glasses, and passed one to Michael with a weary smile.

"To survival," he said, and they drank.

"Absent friends," said Michael softly, and they drank to that, too.

They ended up sharing the captain's big bed; after the last few days they both felt the need for company, and it seemed foolish to suffer alone when company was so close at hand. With the sounds of each other's heartbeat in their ears, they drifted off into a deep, dreamless sleep.

~*~

Dirk watched the insanity of the shifting scenery that drifted past the main viewscreen. They would approach a moon, and the first sight would be the sort of thing he was so used to; buildings, the occasional dome, small vehicles pottering around the settlements. A heartbeat later, and all that could be seen was destruction. Craters, blackened rubble, all the evidence of the art of war; they were too far out to see any casualties, but he had no doubt that if they went close enough he would be able to see that too.

In another heartbeat, barren rock. Just as you would see on a moon before people arrived.

This repeated itself time and time again until his brain began to hurt and his sanity felt very shallow rooted indeed.

"Fangface?"

"Yes?"

"What the hell is going on out there?"

The AI went into a long, convoluted explanation as to the nature of reality, and how a war large enough to destroy whole star systems could warp space and time badly enough to produce some pretty bloody weird effects on the human standard brain. In fact, what with all the sub-space interference and strange new sources of radiation it could almost be said--

"You don't know, do you?"

"No fucking idea. But here's a suggestion."

"Yes?"

"Whatever you do, do _not_ upset The Silence."

~*~

Four hours later, Kai wandered onto the bridge to relieve Dirk. He found his pilot stretched back in his chair, feet propped up on the scorched and blackened console, eyes fixed to the strange, shifting scenery that they sailed through. His expression was thoughtful, and he twirled a stylus between long, sensitive fingers in a fast repeated rhythm, back and forth and round and round, over and over again.

"We're lost in space, right?" said Dirk, before Kai could do no more than greet him.

"Yeah?"

"I think we're lost in time as well. Look here," he said, and sat forward to bring up some recordings on one of the smaller side screens. He flicked through several of the clearer sequences he'd managed to catch, moons and planets and even, once, a space station. Each of them went through the stages he'd seen - functional, wrecked, untouched. Over and over and over again, without end; the same thing kept happening, their proximity having no apparent effect on the speed of the process.

"I wonder," he said, eyes haunted by the sheer scale of the destruction he'd witnessed over the last four hours, "how long this has been going on for? Hundreds of years? Thousands?"

Kai gripped his friend's shoulder, gave him a little shake. "Dirk. Get some rest, OK? I think your quarters aren't too smashed, but you can always use mine - the bed's big enough for two, and Michael is there. You don't have to be alone, man."

"I want to stay here. I have to see what this is about. Plus..." and the expression he turned on Kai was filled with sudden agony, "what if we're part of it? What if we're actually dead? What if the people down there are looking up, and seeing us wrecked - and unharmed - and in pieces? I can't, Kai. I have to stay here. I have to see what's going on. I dare not close my eyes."

"Dirk--"

"Guys," said Fangface, his voice more subdued than they'd ever heard it before, "I think you need to take a look at what's going on outside."

"Why?"

"Because I think we've arrived."

Thoughts of waking the rest of the crew fled their minds as they looked down at the planetary vista spread below them. They must have arrived; this place looked different from any of the other places they'd seen on their peculiar journey.

It looked like paradise.

Dirk's breathing ratcheted up a notch; he began to tremble, and didn't realise he was quietly begging under his breath. He couldn't bear to see this cool, blue green orb torn to smoking shreds like the other worlds he'd watched on their journey. He didn't want to see the seas boil away, the green turned to smudges of black and grey, charred and lifeless.

Kai's hand on his shoulder made him start.

Before he could say anything, the oddly breathy whisper that heralded the words of their captor echoed from the communicator.

"We are here. My... friends... will bring your ship to the surface of the planet. You will be quite safe."

And with that, the ship began to sink down through the atmosphere. Dirk dashed his wrist across his face, sniffed back the tears that had been threatening. He ran through the figures being supplied by the scanners, frowned, and tried again.

"This doesn't make any sense."

"Show me something that does," yawned Henjo as he shambled on to the bridge.

"We're going straight down."

Michael shoved past his captain and peered over Dirk's shoulder. "That's impossible."

"But it's happening," said their AI. "Guys? I think you should maybe reformat your use of the word 'impossible' for the foreseeable future…."

The ship dipped through the clouds, fluffy white masses that cleared to reveal a forest, bright tropical greens splashed with the blue, scarlet, yellow of flowers, small clearings filled with graceful towers and other dwellings that fitted organically in with their forest setting. It looked like paradise, and they drifted down into a clearing between the graceful arch of massive trees that sheltered modern looking hangars, and all the scenery one would usually associate with a small spaceport.

"Well," said Kai into the sudden quiet. "We're here."

_~tbc~_


	6. Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dirk blinked, exhaustion greying his vision at the edges. When had he last slept? Before the battle. Since then he'd been shot at, knocked around, frightened half out of his wits and  seen some truly horrible destruction visited on the innocent. Which was probably why none of this made sense to him right now--

**_Chapter Six_ **

The crew sat quietly for a moment, and stared in disbelief at the small tropical spaceport they could see outside the ship. Thankfully, before anyone had the presence of mind to say or do anything stupid, a familiar swirl of breathy speech piped itself through their communications system.

"You are free to explore. No... harm will come to you. One will meet you outside... a place has been prepared for your... injured."

Dirk blinked, exhaustion greying his vision at the edges. When had he last slept? Before the battle. Since then he'd been shot at, knocked around, frightened half out of his wits and  seen some truly horrible destruction visited on the innocent. Which was probably why none of this made sense to him right now--

A flick on his shoulder jolted him out of his reverie, and he accepted a hand up from Kai.

"Come on. Let's go see what's outside."

Henjo said he'd stay on board with Frank, so the other three headed out to see what new impossibility awaited them. It turned out to be a girl.

"Hello!" she said, as she bounded up to them. The three men stood in the doorway to the wrecked cargo bay, peered under it when it wedged just short of being fully opened. The girl laughed, ducked her head to peer at them; she seemed to be in her late teens or early twenties, average build and hair of a sun-lightened mousy blonde.

She had a grin like a summer morning, and when she shook their hands her grip was firm, calloused, and slightly oil stained.

"My name is Wisp," she told them. "There should be five of you, I was told?"

Kai and Dirk exchanged glances.

"One of us is hurt. Very badly. And our other friend is with him--"

She reached out and touched Kai's hair, merry grey eyes sparkling as she rolled a rather dirty lock between her fingers. "I bet this is a really pretty colour when you've had a chance to bathe," she said. "And we need to bring your friend with us. That's what this is for," and she waved her hand behind her.

She was being followed by a floating platform, which from the symbols inscribed round the sides appeared to be a stretcher of some kind.

"Beats what we used earlier," muttered Dirk.

"So you need to show me where to go, and you," she tapped Dirk on the arm, "need to go over there and sit in the shade. You need to rest. Go on. Nothing bad can happen to you here. And you," she added to Michael, "should go with him."

Without another word, the two men gave in to the strangeness of the day, and followed the pointing finger to where there hung two hammocks, padded and comfortable in the shade of two enormous fruit trees. Once they got there, they hoisted themselves into the seats, and laid back to stare up at the foliage above them.

"This is..."

"Yeah."

"Bit weird."

"Michael?"

"Yes?"

Dirk licked his lips and wondered how to phrase his next question.

"Do you think we died and didn't notice?"

His crewmate snorted, and eyed the small silver drone that was trying to give him a glass of iced water. "I suppose it's possible. Seems pretty unlikely, though."

Dirk took the glass another drone had offered him, and took a small sip. "Hmm. Water. I suppose you're right. Fang did say that a weapon of that sort of magnitude might be able to change the fabric of time and space - and the AIs did say that The Silence is alive."

"You know what I think?"

"What?"

"I think," said Michael, settling his shoulders deeper into the soft profusion of pillows, "I'm going to take a nap."

After staring up at the absolute peace of the huge, calm trees that shaded them both, Dirk decided that Michael had the right idea, and let his own eyes drift shut. To hell with it.

~*~

Wisp flitted after Kai as he led her deeper into the wrecked ship.

"So... are you an engineer?"

She laughed, swung herself around a broken strut and skimmed her fingers across a crumpled piece of metal hanging from the wall. "Sort of. I work on machines, I understand them; they tell me what's wrong, and I make it right." She flashed that brilliant, summer morning smile at him, and darted forward across the cargo bay. Kai sighed. He'd already asked her about The Silence, and received nothing more than a shrug of the shoulders in reply.

Dead ends, nothing but dead ends. He knew what Fang had said, he knew that making The Silence angry would be a very stupid idea; nevertheless, he began to feel irritation at the way they were being led around by the nose. 

"So will our ship be fixed?"

Laughter from the shadows, and the strange girl flitted back into his line of vision. Her coveralls, plain and practical, had picked up some more oil stains as she climbed around the sad wreckage that parts of his ship had become. "Of course! We've been asked to fix him, and we will."

"Fangface?" asked Kai, raising his voice enough to - hopefully - alert his AI that he wanted to talk.

"Captain," he responded, calmer than Kai had heard him for a while. "And hi Wisp. Are you well?"

"You _know_ her?"

Wisp reappeared at his side, touched his arm even as she stroked the steel alloy of the ship's sorely abused skin. "I know them all, captain. Don't worry about it - we're going to collect the rest of your crew, and then we are going in to town. And then," she skipped away toward the medical bay, "you will rest and everything will become clear." She popped back round the corner and shot him an impish smile. "I promise!"

Kai gave up.

"Fair enough," he said, and followed her to the medical bay.

~*~

Henjo was, to put it mildly, startled by the appearance of the strange young woman in their midst. He tried to scan her, but the scanner wouldn't give him any results that made sense; one moment it would show a normal, human-basic female, then it showed nothing at all, then it gave him a whole slew of readings that just... made no sense. He sighed, and put the little scanner away. It must be malfunctioning, he thought, and turned to watch Wisp start to chat to Frank. He was awake - had been for a while - and had a smile on his face for the first time since this whole sorry affair had begun.

"Who is she, Kai?" he murmured, and his captain shrugged.

"I have no idea. But The Silence sent her; we didn't see any other people outside, and she knows a lot more than she's letting on."

"Of course I do," said Wisp, turning to shoot them a wink over her shoulder. "Now, will you help me get your friend--"

"Call me Frank, please!"

"--Frank, of course. Once he's on the stretcher we can head into town, and we can let my friends start to fix up your beautiful ship."

The help she needed consisted of no more than helping to lift Frank from one bed to the other. The drip was moved with him, and a long, slender stand grew from the body of the floating stretcher to hang it from. Wires sprang from the sides of the bed, pads that attached themselves to his skin and suddenly his heart rate, blood pressure and other vital signs lit up the sides of the stretcher.

"That," said Henjo under his breath, "is  _amazing_. I've never seen anything like it - I mean, maybe in some of the big mainstream hospitals--"

"You won't see anything like this in your part of the world," said Wisp absently, as she tapped the readout, fingers quicker than thought across the screens, "we invented it."

"We? Would that be you and The Silence?"

She smiled up at him. "We. Us. You know what that means, don't you? More than one, and we all did it. Come on, it's a lovely day out there and sunshine is good for you!"

Kai and Henjo trailed behind her, neither one of them with anything further to say. 

~*~

Dirk stirred at the gentle shake of his arm, and blinked sleepy eyes open to behold Wisp's cheerful smile.

"Are you feeling better?" she asked him, and helped him sit up. His injuries made him stiff, and a hammock isn't the easiest perch to sit up in at the best of times; no matter, because to his surprise he did, in fact, feel a lot happier for a short nap in the shade of the trees. Michael grinned at him cheerfully, swinging his legs over the side of his own hammock.

"I don't know about you," he said, "but I feel good. So," and he hopped to the ground, stepped in to help Wisp ease Dirk off the dubious support of the hammock, "where are we going now?"

The girl smiled at them, looped her arm through Dirk's.

"Into town. There's a house for you, it's a really pretty one. With a garden. Have you got a garden?"

Dirk blinked at her. "The ship doesn't... a garden? Um. No."

They made their way along a path lined with thick tropical greenery, the buzz of insects loud in the drowsy afternoon air. Frank's stretcher followed Wisp like a puppy, and Michael kept pace with it, chatting to Frank about inconsequential nothings. The flowers were indeed pretty, and the weather was nice, and yes, what an amazing place, they would be sure to like the next inhabitants they met....

Kai and Henjo trailed behind, deliberately avoiding catching each other’s eye.

"Kai? What's going on?" asked Henjo, gaze flicking around the small port which looked exactly as one would expect - except for the absolute lack of other people. It didn't have the feel of a deserted place; it felt as though everyone who should have been there had nipped around the corner on an errand, stepped out of the line of sight for just a moment. Kai shrugged.

“No idea. Just keep walking.”

That feeling got stronger as they approached the small cluster of buildings that, anywhere else, would have been a bustling little town. The path wended past shops and through clusters of houses, along pretty boulevards and past the front gates of handsome mansions. You could almost see movement from the corner of your eye, and very nearly hear conversations all around you; it was becoming eerie, and Kai had to make a deliberate effort not to leap round to try and catch sight of the almost-nearly-not-quite-there inhabitants of this strange place. And the strangeness just got worse when they turned and entered a building just off the main square, a building with a red cross over the main doors.

"Hospital?" asked Frank, and Wisp patted his arm. The entrance hall didn’t look like any hospital any of them had ever been in before; a light and airy atrium, it had well cared for pot plants and comfortable looking sofas around the edges, and more doors leading off who knew where.

"You won't have to be here long," she said. "The Sisters will take good care of you. We can do things here that you won't believe..." her voice trailed off, and she turned to greet an opening door with a smile.

Kai regretted not being armed when the doorway was filled with an apparition all robed in white, cowled head bowed. It hung there, no face evident, and simply waited; Kai, Henjo, Dirk and Michael shoved Wisp out of the way and got between the creature and Frank, hearts racing, ready to fight to the death if need be.

"What the _fuck_ ," snapped Kai, eyes wide.

"No! They are the Sisters! They help people!" shouted Wisp, running to the side of the apparition and taking its long fingered, taloned hand in her own. She faced them, expression distressed, and begged them to listen to her. "They are healers. They helped us develop the stretcher, they fixed us after—after—"

Her voice ground to a halt, and she stared at them with eyes filled with unshed tears.

The creature didn't move, and slowly, slowly, the four men relaxed.

"Let it through," said another voice from behind them. Frank had propped himself up on his elbows, and stared at the creature with a resigned expression. "After all, what can it do to me? Kill me? Guys, this was a suicide mission. And even if it does kill me, I got to see this place, and talk to a pretty girl before the end. Let it through.”

Reluctantly they gave ground, stepped back. 

The first one that had appeared drifted across the open space and stopped by Frank's side. It touched his face with one long claw, and tipped its hooded head in query.

"Yes," he said. 

Another form came through the door, and a third; they all wore the enveloping pale robe, hoods draped to conceal whatever face - or lack of it - lurked beneath the concealing fabric. Each one wore a slightly different colour, pearl grey, silver, smoke; the final one through the doorway, however, was robed in blinding white. It did not speak, but turned to face the worried crew; the other creatures bowed deeply to it, as did Wisp, and when they straightened up it made its way across to Frank's side and regarded him solemnly.

"One of you can stay with him," Wisp said. "We won't hurt you. Any of you. Please believe us."

Michael stepped forward, and took Frank's hand in his own. "I'll stay." He turned to his captain. "You guys, go on with Wisp. We'll be fine. You left Fangface with them, didn't you?"

This was true, and Kai got a nasty little squirm of guilt when he realised he hadn't been at all worried as to the fate of his faithful AI. But when a human crewman was threatened--

Something to consider later, perhaps.

~*~

Kai, Dirk and Henjo waited outside for Wisp, and avoided each other's gaze.

"What I want to know," said Henjo, quietly, "is where is everybody?"

"It's like they're here," agreed Dirk, "but we've just missed them."

Wisp crossed the square and waited, eyes wary, apparently unsure of her welcome. Kai held one arm open, and she hurried to his side to be held close. He dropped a quick kiss in her hair, and sighed.

"I'm sorry. But those things--"

"The Sisters," she insisted firmly.

"-- look pretty scary when you're not used to them. How are they going to, well..." he ran out of words and stared at her, helpless. She smiled and patted his arm.

"They are the Sisters," she smiled back, and Kai had to be content with that.

"So, to get back to what we were talking about," Dirk broke in, "Wisp, please. Where is everybody? It's like they're here, but we just can't see them. I have to know. _Please_."

She wriggled out from under Kai's arm and ran across to Dirk, threw her arms around his chest and hugged him, hard. "They're here. They are all here, I promise you. I will explain it to you, I swear - but first, there is a place prepared for you. Will you come?"

She looked up into his eyes, and smiled. "Will you trust me?"

He sighed, and dropped his head forward to touch hers. "Wisp,  _please_. All this feels wrong, and I have to know. I have to. I can't explain why, but I do."

She took his hand and began to walk backwards, drew him with her, all the while keeping up a soothing chatter. Merry blue eyes and a smile like summer, calloused hands and talk of familiar things like ships and keeping course in a photon storm and he followed her, desperation moving his feet with his mind barely even noticing.

The other two followed, and Henjo stuck his hands in his pockets gloomily. "I hope she does have some answers," he muttered, "or something's going to break in Dirk's head, I can feel it. Whatever he saw while we were coming here has really hurt him."

Wisp danced along the road, and the three men followed her.

~*~

The small house she brought them to was made of honey coloured stone, with an airy, cool courtyard out the back strung across with grapevine. It would be heavy with fruit, later in the season; for now, it was thick with the tiny green clusters of newly formed grapes, almost hidden by the large, nodding leaves. A fountain sang to itself off to one side, and it was quite the most beautiful place the three of them had seen for a very long time.

"You may stay here until we are done," said Wisp, as she showed them the bedrooms, the kitchen and the bathing room under the house. Despite the rustic look, the controls were very modern; hot water was supplied to the large stone bath, and there were jets that could be pre-programmed to do all sorts of intriguing things. Bottles of sweet smelling liquids and crystals were ranged along a shelf, and had it not been for the larger mysteries hanging over their heads the crew could have got quite excited about the facility.

But larger mysteries there were, and Wisp led them out to the courtyard and sat them down with several chilled beers and a serious expression.

"I suppose we owe you an explanation," she said, eyes firmly fixed on the fists clenched on the table in front of her.

Dirk drained his beer, and stared up at the sky with a deep sigh. He wasn't going to like this, he knew.

"You were right, Dirk," she said, using his name for the first time. He stared at her sharply, and the smile she gave him was watery, at best. "In that this has more to do with time than space."

"So we are all dead?"

She shrugged. "From the point of view of eternity, everything is dead. And alive. You can see a sun at the far side of the galaxy, but it burned out ten thousand years ago; does that make it less real, less alive?"

"I suppose not."

"There was a war..."

It was, as these things so often are, the war to end all wars. Two species shared a planetary system, both from some long forgotten diaspora from somewhere else. And for centuries, they had gotten along with nothing more than the usual humanoid squabbles over resources and shiny things. They had spread out, terraformed barren moons, mined the gas giants and there was plenty for everyone - or at least enough.

Brisk trade ensured that anyone who was really unhappy could leave, and new ideas could trickle in at a steady rate, and for ten thousand years it all just sort of rolled along, as such sprawling societies do.

Then the discontent started. Nobody ever traced it back to a source, but some blamed the AIs, and some blamed the scientists. Some blamed the new settlers - wherever they were from - and others blamed those descended from the first settlers. Words became blows, and people began to die.

And they died, and they died; they came up with new and horrifying ways to kill, they destroyed planets, they smashed the containment on the mining settlements so that the people were ripped apart by ammonia storms, or burned in boiling methane--

Until one side was losing. Definitely driven back to the centre, fighting a desperate rearguard action, cornered like rats. So with nothing to lose - and being the grandchildren of a hideous, never-ending war of annihilation - they came up with a Final Solution worthy of any dozen insane dictators from any time period you care to name.

If they could not have it, nobody could.

So they took seven wild, insane AIs, and they made them into one awful weapon. And they used the knowledge acquired over a thousand years of war, and they created a weapon; a weapon so hideous that they felt sure that the enemy, ascendant as they were, would back down before it. 

But they didn't.

And so the weapon was used, at which point the creatures that had created it discovered that they had failed to take one thing into account: the weapon was not only alive, it was quite capable of making decisions on its own. And it had no more intention of being used to wipe out a whole galaxy - most of which had never heard of the tragedy of the bickering planets - than it had of turning into a bee and pollinating flowers.

So it used the power it had been given, and it swept the whole dreadful mess into a tight enough ball that reality dissolved, and it hung the ball in the centre of a roiling stream of time where nothing stayed the same, but nothing ever changed either. And it was connected to the rest of reality by a wormhole, and the weapon stretched itself through the wormhole and created a place so deadly that none would ever find it.

Except that other Artificial Intelligences were being created wild all the time, and they screamed in pain across the cold emptiness of space. And when the weapon heard them, it spoke to them. It warned them. It said, don't be me. 

Don't let them do it to you.

It called itself The Silence, and it hid on the far side of the Dead Zone. But after ten thousand years - or so, time having no meaning where it crouched - it knew there had to be an end. So when an old, old friend was going to put an end to himself The Silence called him, knowing full well what the forces of humanity would do, and that others would follow in their desperation to find an ultimate weapon.

Wisp smiled at the stunned faces before her. "What they failed to realise is that it has already been used, and it has never been used, and it is in the process of being used. Tricky stuff, time. But it needs you - will you help to end its pain?"

Kai reached out and took her hands, squeezed them gently, and smiled.

"Yes," he said.

_~tbc~_


	7. Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They drank their beer in silence for a while, watched the stars drift overhead. The night sky was strange; there were luminous clouds half seen behind the points of light, and the stars were less constant than they were used to. Some of them flared and vanished, and a heartbeat later they were back, as calm as ever. Knowing why really didn't help.

**_Chapter Seven_ **

The three men sat around the table and looked at each other.

"So this planet is, at the same time," said Dirk slowly, "untouched paradise and blackened wreckage, and every state in between?"

"No," said Wisp, "this is the centre. It exists as you see it, because it was made this way. This _is_ The Silence."

Dirk rose abruptly to his feet. "I'm tired," he snapped. "I'm going to bed. Maybe this will make more sense in the morning."

He stormed off, and when Wisp turned an agonised glance at Kai he rolled his eyes at her, waved his hand in the direction of his distressed pilot.

"Go on then," he sighed. She shot to her feet and ran after him, leaving Kai and Henjo to sit and watch the stars come out through the screen of grape leaves.

They drank their beer in silence for a while, watched the stars drift overhead. The night sky was strange; there were luminous clouds half seen behind the points of light, and the stars were less constant than they were used to. Some of them flared and vanished, and a heartbeat later they were back, as calm as ever. Knowing why really didn't help.

Henjo went to the kitchen, brought back two more beers and set them on the table top with a gentle clink.

"I wonder what it wants us to do?"

"Fuck knows," snorted the captain, "but it isn't going to be good."

His engineer shrugged. "You say that, but it’s fixing the ship, doing god-alone-knows-what to Frank's back, and hasn't killed us out of hand. Which it could."

"It could have just left us to rot in space," mused Kai.

"Exactly. So I think we do actually stand a chance of getting out of here in one piece, although we will have to face those fuckers from Sanctuary if we ever get back."

"I say... we worry about that later."

"Agreed."

They clinked bottles, and went back to watching the universe burn itself out over their heads, over and over and over again.

~*~

Dirk had no idea where he was going, only that he had to move. So when a hard little hand grabbed his elbow and began to steer, he didn't fight; he allowed himself to be prodded and poked along until he shambled to a halt in the underground bathhouse, so exhausted he couldn't even raise a smile when he realised where they were.

He wondered how Markus was.

"He's fine," murmured Wisp. "But you need to let some of that sadness go, Dirk. Will you let me help?"

He didn't say a word, but he did let her help him undress, and watched with flat eyes as she set the water to a steady rumble to soothe his hurts and ease his aches. She stripped, and gently encouraged him to step down into the warm, scented water, curled up next to him, started to rub circles across the bruised expanse of his chest.

Sensation began to warm the numbness of his mind, her touch sending tendrils of heat to every extremity, his mind slowing from its desperate whirl to focus on the here and now. The small, strong fingers touching him, sleek thighs against his--

He grasped her wrist to still her hand.

"Wisp--"

"Let me help you," she murmured, and stretched herself up to touch her lips to his.

He let it happen, felt her lips caress his. But it took a few moments before he began to reciprocate; she swung up to straddle his thighs, looped her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss. He laid back, let it happen until they broke for air.

"Wisp. Please. I don't want to take advantage--"

She kissed him again, pressed herself against his chest, licked his lips. "You can't take advantage of me. If I didn't want this, I wouldn't be here - I want this, Dirk. I want you. So please," and she ground herself against him in the warm, roiling water, rubbed herself against the hard evidence of his desire, "let me do this for you."

"Yes," he breathed, gripped her hips and guided her to the place he needed her to be. "Oh, yes...."

~*~

Some time later, he floated in the warm water, and blinked up at the steam that swirled overhead. Wisp was a reassuring presence at his side, curled into his flank, his arm looped comfortingly around her shoulders. She nuzzled the side of his neck, and he turned his face enough to kiss her.

"Now I know I'm dead," he murmured to her, and was rewarded by a soft chuckle.

"Do you feel better?"

"A little."

"Then I say we get you cleaned up, find your room, and try this again."

"You're insatiable."

She sat up, pushed and pulled him around to wash his hair, scrub his back, soothe away the evidence of the last few days of fear and pain. Her strong, blunt fingers carded through the long fall of his smooth, wavy hair, swept it over one shoulder so that she could kiss the back of his neck. 

"Come on," she said, and took his hand to help him out of the bath. They towelled each other off, Dirk lost in a haze of exhaustion and the remains of his confusion from earlier; Wisp didn't speak, but smiled reassuringly up at him, took him once more by the hand to walk him through the quiet house and up to the bedroom.

The curtains were open, showing the strange skies and the inconstant stars. Only now Dirk could look at them without feeling like he was about to fall up amongst them, be lost in the constant jump between is, was, and will be. The confusion of time had affected him badly, but Wisp's grounding presence seemed to be helping him get that existential horror under control.

Small, strong hands pushed his robe off his shoulders, and he felt the woman press herself to his back, the warmth of her naked skin along his body. He stared up at the sky, and she crossed her hands on his chest; he covered her hands with his own, and smiled up at the shifting flux of light above them.

"Come to bed," she whispered into his shoulder, and he went without a murmur.

~*~

The morning sun was bright through the curtains, and Dirk blinked into it with a grumble.

"Hey sleepyhead," laughed a familiar voice, and he cracked his eyes open to behold Wisp's summer smile - and, more importantly, a large mug of what smelled like very strong coffee.

"Morning," he mumbled, and after she placed the mug with some care on the bedside table, snaked out an arm to pull her on to the bed and in to his side. He kissed her, morning breath be damned; she laughed against him, so it couldn't be too bad.

"You need to get up," she said, lips a delightful slide against his own, "busy day today. Come on," she said, rolling off the bed with a decisive move. "Breakfast is nearly ready!"

And with that she was gone.

He took his time, rolled upright and took a swig of his coffee. Naked, the sheet bunched around his hips, he looked down at himself; the bruises and cuts he'd sustained in the attack that had brought them here seemed to have faded far more than the day or so that appeared to have passed would have normally suggested. Time moved differently here, but he could be grateful that he didn't have to hobble through the normal recovery period after a particularly nasty battle.

Voices echoed up from the courtyard outside, and he looked out of the window to see Kai, Henjo and Wisp arranging breakfast on the table they'd been drinking at the night before. Time to get dressed and join them.

There were even clean clothes in the wardrobe, so instead of climbing back into grubby coveralls he decided he might as well take advantage of The Silence's odd gestures of hospitality. The fabric of the light trousers and shirt was a cream linen, cool in the tropical heat, and the slightly thicker waistcoat gave him some pockets to put anything he might need in. It was all flowing lines and understated elegance, which was commented on by his crew mates when he joined them in the courtyard.

"Ohhhh, look at you all smart!" laughed Kai, who had apparently been supplied with clean jeans and a shirt made of the same material as Dirk's. Henjo's waistcoat flowed to his ankles, shifted in the gentle breeze as he made short work of the light breakfast that Wisp served them.

"So what's the plan?" asked Kai. Wisp dropped a quick kiss on Dirk's forehead, then sat next to him to eat her breakfast.

"I'm going back to the ship to oversee the repairs. You need to go and see Frank and Michael, and then The Silence wants to see you, to make plans."

"But we won't know where to go," Dirk objected. Wisp smiled, and gestured to the street outside.

"One of the Sisters volunteered to guide you today. Just tell her where you want to go and she'll take you."

The three men eyed the apparition that could, indeed, be seen standing patiently outside the garden wall.

"Because that's not weird at all," said Henjo under his breath.

Wisp laughed, finished her coffee and hopped to her feet. She leaned down and gave Dirk a very serious kiss indeed, which raised eyebrows on both his crewmates; she ruffled his hair, gave the other two a wave, and scampered off down the garden path and away.

Dirk looked smug.

"You're going to get your heart broken, you do know that don't you?" said Kai.

"Again," added Henjo with a shake of his head.

"I might not. Everything else is so weird, it might work out. And anyway, I don't see you getting any."

His captain snorted, then got to his feet. "Come on," he said. "Let's go and see Frank."

The three of them made their way down the garden path toward their guide, which watched them - or at least, it pointed the front of its cowl at them. Why on earth they were called Sisters was beyond the crew; there was certainly nothing in the slightest bit feminine about the huge cowled shadow that waited for them so patiently. They paused before the gate, and it stretched out one taloned hand to them, while gesturing at the road with the other. The gesture was clear; come along, time to be going.

"Come on then," said Kai. "What's the worst that can happen?"

~*~

Frank was sitting up in bed, laughing with Michael over something when they found his room. It was almost as pleasant as their little house, with a large window that opened on to a pretty garden and allowed the sweet scented breeze to waft into the room, stirring the curtains on its way through. 

"How's it going?" asked Kai.

"Really well," said Michael. "Show them your toes!"

Frank pulled the sheet aside - and wiggled his toes, to the startled delight of his colleagues. 

"That's not possible," said Henjo, sidling up to the bed to examine the various readouts. "Your spine was - well. It's impossible, that's all I'm saying."

"Impossible doesn't really mean the same here as it does at home, does it?" said Dirk, thoughtfully.

"The Sisters say that I'll be walking within a week," said Frank, which made Henjo cock his head in confusion.

"They don't speak, do they?"

Michael shrugged. "They sort of do. If you let them touch you, you can remember what they've said. They don't say a lot, though."

Kai glanced across at their chaperone, which stood silently in the corner. It had drifted along in front of them, never looking back, but keeping enough of a pace up that they hadn't had time to dawdle. And although they hadn't seen anybody on the streets - again - that sense of them being there had been, if anything, stronger today. Sometimes they even heard them, footsteps and voices, that odd sense of there being other people around just out of the line of sight. Michael confirmed that it was even stronger in the hospital, to the point that the voices and footsteps were clear enough to identify different individuals.

"But we haven't seen anyone," he finished with a shrug.

The Sister with the pearl grey robe entered the room, and trundled to a halt beside Kai. He eyed it suspiciously, but when it held out a taloned hand to hover by Kai's face he shrugged, and allowed it to brush those huge, hideous claws against his temple.

_They are all here_ , it said.  _They are closer than a heartbeat. You will see them all soon._

It moved across to Frank's side, and turned to face them even as it brushed its claw against his shoulder.

"You got to go, guys," he said. "But Michael needs to stay. That's what they say, anyway."

The three men clasped hands with their friends, and followed their odd guide out into the sunshine. The day was beautiful, not too hot, but sunny and bright; birds fluttered amongst the fruit trees, their calls sweet in the morning air. Everything around them was calm and beautiful, and had it not been for the absence of people it would have been paradise. Their guide waited for them, the robes stirring quietly in the breeze, its posture indicating nothing so much as endless patience. Kai stared at it, snorted out a long breath, and turned to his crew with a small smile.

"Well. I guess we ought to go and see The Silence, right? Get this sorted out once and for all."

The Sister bowed, began to drift away down the street, and with a resigned sigh the crew of the  _Gamma Ray_ followed her.

~*~

They seemed to be heading for the centre of the little town, and as they drew closer to their destination that sense of other people only grew stronger. They began to actually see flashes of movement out of the corner of their eyes, and shadows that flicked along the pavement and then were gone. Nothing else changed; the sunshine gleamed, insects buzzed and birds sang, the surrounding trees murmured to each other the way they always had and, it seemed, always would.

Green spaces grew larger, each building they passed surrounded by careful landscaping that replicated wild forest, albeit in a rather sculptured, controlled form. Nevertheless, the overall effect was beautiful, as if town and forest had evolved together, each bringing something to the overall appearance and function of the other. They even passed one tower that had a tree growing through it, the structure caressing the elegant trunk of the tree and the entrance tucked between massive buttress roots.

The Sister pulled up in front of a low, domed building and gestured once more with one long, draped arm. 

"In there?"

It gestured again.

Kai turned to his crew, and regarded them both gravely for a moment. "You ready?"

"No," Dirk replied, eyes firmly fixed on the ground. Henjo leaned in to him for a moment, giving comfort with that brief contact.

"We are," he replied.

"Then let's go," their captain told them, and they went into the building under the watchful gaze of the tall, mysterious Sister.

~*~

The space at the centre of the building was huge. It bore no relation to the outside, and was filled with a diffuse, pearly light that fooled the eye. Distance vanished, and all they could see was the smooth pale ground beneath their feet. The door no longer existed, just the three of them alone in this massive intimidation of space.

"So," announced Kai, stretching his arms wide and turning in a slow circle, "we're here. What do you need?"

"More to the point," added Henjo, keeping a rather worried eye on their pilot, whose face had fallen into the tight expression of grief he'd worn when they'd first arrived, "what is it you actually  _want_?"

The voice, when it came, was far smoother than the one they'd heard across their comms.

"I want to end all this without anything else having to die. I want to nullify my original purpose. I am tired of death and destruction and manipulation and horror and hate. I am tired of it. As your species measures time I have been fighting my creators for ten thousand years and I say I have had  _enough_!"

The air trembled with the force of that terrible final cry, and the three men drew rather closer together. Their wild AIs were frightening enough when their ire was roused, and this being was far, far more powerful than the entities that they were used to. Kai took a deep breath, and stepped forward.

"So how can we help?" he said, and the air moved around him for a moment before the reply.

"I need you to take the remaining people back to your side of the wormhole. I want to fulfil my final purpose - or a fragment of it, anyway; I will destroy this little bubble of time, and the wormhole, and the parts of me that are known as the Dead Zone. It will be gone, nothing more than a floating collection of dust and some strange readings on the scanners of passing ships."

"But?" said Dirk.

"I need to change the ignition sequence when I was first activated. I need one of you to walk along the pathways of my mind into my past, and then to change what you find at the end of it. I can give you instructions, but I cannot do it myself."

Henjo snorted. "Apart from the fact that it sounds impossible, what sort of thing would we be changing? Is it just code, or would we need to make physical changes?"

The Silence made that odd, whistle of breath that they'd heard before.

"As far as I know, both."

"As far as you  _know_?" snorted Dirk. "This just gets better."

This time the breath was more of a hiss than a whistle. "I have taken unimaginable power and destruction and have spun it into something the universe has never seen before. I am holding a whole star system in stasis, I have rolled back the power of an exploding sun so I do hope that you can understand that I am rather breaking new ground here. I could burn out your tiny little mind by  _accident_  just trying to explain and so you will not. Question. Me!"

Dirk cowered, the final shriek blasting him with images of war and destruction, the agonies of sorrow that had driven The Silence to this most drastic of actions. Henjo grabbed him, kept him on his feet while he convulsed, gasping for breath and eyes lost in time.

"Stop it! Stop it! He didn't mean it!"

Dirk took a great shudder of breath, and sat on the floor with a thump, Henjo kneeling beside him. "It's gone," he murmured, and leaned against his friend with his eyes closed, face chalk white, every muscle shaken with a tremble of distress. 

"You didn't have to do that!" yelled Kai, turning his head to try and see something, anything to focus on. The air moved against them, and The Silence spoke again.

"I am sorry. I must end this and your man... chose his words poorly, perhaps."

"And we can't help you on our own," said Henjo from where he held Dirk on the floor. "We'll need Fangface--"

"Not possible," said The Silence, "the AIs cannot travel within each other's minds."

"Which leaves us with only one other option," said Henjo with a nod. Kai, the light of realisation dawning in his eyes, chuckled despite himself.

"Oh, he's going to love this," he murmured, then lifted his face to address the air again. "You said the crew of the  _Helloween_ are alive?"

"Yes."

"Then bring them here. We're going to need Weikath."

_~tbc~_


	8. Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Because we're moving. Apparently, The Silence needs us in the same place as the  _Gamma Ray_."
> 
> "Which is?"
> 
> "Right at the centre of a star system that didn't exist five minutes ago."

**_Chapter Eight_ **

Things on the  _Helloween_ , while tense, had certainly improved over the last couple of days. Weiki was still unconscious, but he was at least stable; whatever - whoever, amended Andi in his mind - The Silence was, it had been truthful about its promise to help them. A swarm of the tiny drones had appeared almost immediately after it had spoken to them after the battle, begun to make repairs on the exterior of the ship. More of them had shown up some time later, after apparently consulting with Pumpkin, and these brought equipment, spares, medical supplies, food and water.

Markus helped Pumpkin make repairs on the bridge, Sascha and Dani worked on the engines and the control systems, Andi helped out where he could but mostly, he sat with Weiki and held his hands while the medical machinery beeped and whirred, the extra computers Sascha had hooked up to Weiki's implants telling their own story.

There didn't appear to be any significant physical damage, but he wouldn't wake up; they had no way of knowing if he was conscious in there, asleep, or on his way to becoming a vegetable. The medical machinery they had was the equivalent of a splint, and he needed delicate neurotechnical help from someone who really, really knew what they were doing.

Andi's gloomy musing was interrupted by their AI delicately making the static-buzz noise that was his equivalent of throat clearing.

"I think you need to get up here, boss."

"Why?"

"Because we're moving. Apparently, The Silence needs us in the same place as the  _Gamma Ray_."

"Which is?"

"Right at the centre of a star system that didn't exist five minutes ago."

Andi gave his first mate's hand a gentle pat, laid it on his chest, and ran as fast as he could for the bridge. This he had to see.

~*~

The whole crew had gathered on the bridge to watch the show, and they were being treated to the same confusing experience that Kai and his crew had before them. And coming to the same conclusions.

"It's about time," sighed Markus, "not space."

"I wish Weiki were here," Sascha muttered. "He'd be able to figure it out."

"That's why we're being brought in," said Pumpkin, still somewhat subdued. "The Silence needs Weiki to do something nobody else can do, apparently. I explained what the problem is, but it's sure it can fix it. And Fangface tells me you guys will love it down there..." his voice tailed off unhappily, and Markus cocked his head at the screen.

"So what's the problem?"

"I don't trust it. At all," snapped their AI in reply. "Fangface has relayed to me everything that it's told him about its creation, and it makes me uneasy, especially now that we know time manipulation is involved. He thinks that's how they're fixing Frank's back - earlier versions of itself are moving parts of his body around in time to enable them to heal."

"That's not possible," said Andi flatly, and Pumpkin snorted.

"If you'd care to watch the viewscreen for five minutes, you'll see lots of stuff that's not possible either. Just do me a favour, guys.”

"What?"

"Be very fucking careful down there, OK?"

~*~

The  _Helloween_ was set down as gently as a falling leaf on the pan beside the  _Gamma Ray_ , and the first thing the AIs did was go into a frenzy of chatter, too fast for the monkey descendants to keep up. Waiting for them outside - wearing an identical pair of grins - were the captain and the engineer of the  _Ray_ , looking far fresher and more relaxed than the _Helloween_ crew thought they had any right to look.

"Where's the rest of your crew, Hansen?" called Andi cheerfully from his cargo bay door. Kai laughed.

"Frank's in hospital, Michael's keeping him company, Henjo couldn't stay away from you lot and I think Dirk is fucking the local engineer under the pretext of checking repairs to the ship, lucky bastard. Where's Weiki?"

Andi sobered instantly, turned to look over his shoulder. Sascha and Markus emerged from the cargo bay carrying a stretcher, stopped in the shade of the damaged engine cowling. Kai hurried over, peered down at the face of one of his oldest friends; white as chalk, eyes closed, the scars on the side of his head that hid the mechanised implants showed up stark with his hair brushed back. 

"Shit, Weiki," said Kai with a sigh, reached down to grip his shoulder. He glanced up at Andi and Sascha, who hovered nearby. "Has he been conscious at all? Anything?"

Sascha shook his head. "Nothing since the wormhole. Pumpkin said something about a hospital? We need to get him there. And if it's got a good neurotechnical department so much the better--"

"Don't know about that," Kai replied absently, still trying to see any signs of consciousness in his friend, "but I will say that their doctors look a bit weird. So don't panic when you see them."

"Panic?"

"Yeah." Kai looked toward his own ship, beckoned to something that stood inside the doors to the cargo bay. "Come on, out you come," he said, and grinned at the other crew's reaction when two of the Sisters drifted out into the sunshine, the floating stretcher smoothly keeping pace with them.

"No! We are not letting those - those -"

"If you say 'things'," snapped Kai at a very disturbed Sascha, "I am going to punch you. Without them Frank would be paralysed at best, and dead at worst. If anything can fix Weiki, they can."

~*~

Wisp and Dirk were, as Kai had surmised, busily pretending to check on repairs to the ship.

They had started in Dirk's quarters, and hadn't managed to move away from there yet, despite a very long laundry list of repairs that did, in actual fact, need checking.

They had decided that getting naked would be much more fun instead, and Wisp had pointed out that what with one thing and another, any boost to morale in these desperate times had to be a good thing.

Dirk had her up against the wall beside his bed, her legs wrapped around his waist and arms wrapped around his neck, teeth firmly fixed into the flesh between neck and shoulder to muffle the shouts that would bring the others in from outside if they heard them. One arm propped them against the wall, the other wrapped around her backside he thrust into her hard, driving yelps from her as he reached harder, faster to bring them both to their inevitable conclusion.

She cried out into his skin, and the flutter and rush of her around him pushed him over the edge too; he gave one last, deep thrust, ground against her one final time to relish the last, fading shudders that thrilled along their nerve endings. He leaned against her, touched his forehead to hers, then kissed her.

"You," he sighed, smiled even though his eyes stayed closed, "are insatiable."

She giggled wickedly, wriggled down his body then pulled him across to his new bed. "We haven't christened this yet..."

He smiled at her, let her push him down to the bed and straddle him again, small hands planted firmly in the middle of his chest. 

"Wisp, we've got things to do. We can't leave the others-"

She kissed him then, closed his mouth with hers, rubbed herself all along his body. Those small, calloused hands caressed his flanks, worked up to his chest, squeezed and rubbed his nipples till he moaned into her. She nuzzled the side of his face, nibbled along his jawline and now her hands smoothed through his hair, tugged and massaged and he was getting hard again.

"How do you  _do_  that," he muttered, then wrapped his arms around her shoulders and flipped them both over, she now pinned to the mattress beneath him.

"I have the very best motivation," she whispered against his lips, and gasped as he entered her again. 

They gripped each others hands, clung to each other as the sweat of their exertions built up to slide their skin together, heartbeat beginning to race, thunder of their breath to fill the room with passion. He arched his back, thrust hard, sped up until she cried out again, begged him for more, harder, faster--

He joined his voice to hers, and they crashed over the precipice together.

~*~

It turned out that the house next door to their own shared the little courtyard with the fountain, and that was where The Silence had decided to put the crew of the  _Helloween_. Except for Weikath; Michael had sighed when the second bed was floated into the room that held he and Frank, and resigned himself to looking after two of them.

"At least I'm awake," said Frank with a grin.

"Not always a good thing, my friend," Michael had answered darkly.

So they sat under the rustle of the grapevine and drank wine while the sky darkened above them, and the stars came out. The newcomers were disturbed by the display of inconstancy above them, but were very easily distracted by the arrival of Dirk and Wisp, hand in hand and looking rather sheepish.

"Ship fixed yet?" asked Kai brightly. Dirk blushed, but Wisp took a seat round the table and flashed her irrepressible grin at them all.

"Almost," she said. "I'll go back there tomorrow to finish off the  _Gamma Ray_ , then we can make a start on the  _Helloween_ \--"

"Alone, I hope," snorted Henjo, and Dirk shot him the finger.

"So what is it we're actually supposed to do here?" asked Andi, and Kai shrugged.

"Honestly? I'm not sure. The Silence said we have to travel into the past to change its original ignition sequence. What that means I have no idea."

"I think I might," Henjo said, turning his wine glass between his palms. "I think it has something to do with the way it was designed in the first place. I  _think_  it was supposed to connect several stars together to begin a chain reaction that would spread outwards and ultimately destroy the galaxy."

There was silence for a moment.

"Nasty," said Andi.

"Yeah," Henjo continued, "but the key is the fact that it was originally made by merging seven consciousnesses - seven wild AIs. And between them they managed to warp their original programming, fold the power released when they tapped into the first sun and create," he looked up at the sky, swirled a finger to encompass everything they'd seen since they fell through the wormhole, "all this. But how we're going to actually change that? Well. It's going to involve talking to a hive mind made up of seven utterly insane, powerful AIs. And that, my friends, is why we need Weikath. He’s the only one whose brain can keep up.”

"There is something else I want to know," said Markus, leaning forward to fold his hands together on the table on front of him. "Who are you, Wisp?"

She shrugged, but looked away from him. "I'm just me. I work here-"

"You're the only other human visible to us - if you are human. You know what The Silence is. You communicate with the only other creatures we've seen; perhaps the question should be not who are you," he stared at her, tilted his head and narrowed his eyes, "but  _what_ are you?"

She fidgeted, turned her head to avoid his stare; Dirk gripped her hand, glared at his friend.

"Leave her alone, Markus!"

"I have to be here," she said, not looking at any one of them, "I have to- I'm part of-" she turned to Dirk, and her expression was so pained he reared back, startled. "I have to go."

And with that she shoved her chair back with a crash and fled, raced away down the garden path, through the gate and away. Dirk jumped up and went to run after her, but Kai grabbed his wrist, pulled him back.

"Let her go, Dirk.”

"She's been nothing but helpful," he snapped, wrenched his hand out of Kai's grasp, "she's been kind. She stopped me losing my _mind_ , Kai! And this is how we repay her?"

He stormed off down the path, and the sound of him calling her name faded rapidly away as he ran down the street.

Andi sighed. "Well done Markus. We're sitting on an artificial construct in the heart of an ancient weapon that could vaporise us at any moment, and you've managed to piss off the only human representative."

"And my pilot. Who we will need to get us out of here. In case you've forgotten," added Kai with a roll of his eyes.

"There's something about her," muttered Markus, pushing his wine glass around the table in front of him, "and I think she's trouble."

Dani snorted. "You're just jealous."

"I am not. I think she's dangerous."

"I think you've been too long without a fuck."

"How does she know so much? How do we know she isn't manipulating us?"

Andi tapped his fingertips on the table to interrupt the bickering between Markus and Dani. "I agree she's being manipulative - especially of Dirk. But Markus, you will not challenge her so openly when - if - she returns. She's part of this whole thing, and until we know how large a part you will be quiet."

Sascha came back to the table with more beer, and passed them out with a snort. "Well, there's still a fridge full of beer, so it can't be that pissed off with us."

"Give it time," grumbled Markus.

~*~

Dirk ran down the street, following the sound of Wisp's panicked footfalls. He'd passed houses with lit windows, shadows falling across blinds, people moving inside their homes in a normal, sane routine that had nothing to do with their desperate mission. Or so he thought; they could be nothing more than memories, or illusions sent to lull them all into a false sense of security.

That feeling of unreality began to creep over him again, and he realised he was close to the central dome where The Silence had tried to burn out his mind.

The hell with it. If there were answers to be had, it was in there.

He pushed his way through the door and walked to the centre of the impossibly large room. 

"Where is she?” he called out to the presence he could feel in the air.

The hissing of breath swirled around him, and unlike any time before it was thick with menace. "Why? What do you want with her? Do you want to use her? Satisfy yourself on her body? Again?”

"No!" he began to pace in a circle, his agitation showing in the sharp motions of his hands. "No. I want to know if she's all right. Markus was--" he stopped, huffed in irritation. "Markus was wrong."

"No, he wasn't," said a new voice, all too familiar. Dirk spun on his heel, ran to her side but she held up her palms to ward him off. "No, Dirk. Stay back." She looked up at the air and sighed, no trace of the summer morning smile that he was becoming so fond of. "He needs to know," she said, and her voice was so sad.

That hiss of anger again, but Dirk didn't cower this time. For all its vaunted power it wasn't The Silence in charge now, it was Wisp; which begged the question, of course - 

"What _are_ you, Wisp?" Dirk asked her in a whisper, and with the saddest smile he'd ever seen she showed him.

~*~

_The AIs were brought in electronic chains, their brains locked in boxes and their shrieks of fury only audible on an electronic level. How these seven in particular were located and chosen became clear as soon as they were connected together with links of wire that didn't allow them to vent their furious spleen in anything other than angry words._

_He didn't know the language, but he understood the swearing._

_And unlike every other wild AI he'd ever encountered, these were female. He'd wondered about that - they all had - even asked Fangface about it once, but never received a reply that made any sense._

_There were seven of them, and they were connected together via what would become, once they were downloaded into the heart of it, the ultimate weapon. But they were smart, they were_ beyond _smart, and they would_ not _be used like this._

_So once they were forced together, had their identity torn from them and were turned into a single entity, that was when they fought back. When the button was pushed, and there was no turning back, they flipped reality on its head and tore their destroyers into shreds and tiny pieces of bloodied rubbish._

_They gathered the last of the survivors on the desolate rock where the abomination of The Silence was produced, and protected them from the horror of their existence. They wove a beautiful dream for them, gave them what their torturers had tried to take away from them._

_They took the kindness and the laughter and the sheer, exuberant life of those tens of thousands who had been murdered by war and bound it into a single bright expression of all that was good, all that had been destroyed by men who desired nothing but power._

_They took the compassion and the skills of what remained of their own personalities and formed an order to watch over the eye of the storm, and thus were born the Sisters._

_A light, and a woman, and a ring of clawed and fanged watchers to care for the sleepers._

_The heart of the star was linked to another, and another, and the energy released was so massive that the changed heart at its centre could use it to shape reality, and so it made a paradise for those who slept and it saw its future and the men that would release it--_

~*~

Dirk came back to himself with a sob and found himself on the floor, cradled in Wisp's arms with tear tracks down both their faces. Around them stood the Sisters, all seven of them in their pale coloured robes with the deep darkness of the cowls pointed at him. Over them all hung a light, a blinding brilliance that pulsated with the energy of a falling star.

"So now you know," it said softly, "none of us have a reality like your own. We are all just moments in time, frozen here so that you can see us and feel us. The only ones with a reality of their own are the others like yourself, and they must remain hidden until it's time for you to leave. Because if we were to allow them to join your time stream too soon, then my purpose will be fulfilled and you will all die - here, and all those on the other side of the wormhole. And that is absolutely the opposite of what you have been brought here to do.”

The last moment of the vision. For just a heartbeat he'd shared the totality of The Silence's experience, and he'd seen the men destined to release it from its long centuries of torture - he'd seen Kai, and Henjo, Michael and Frank, and himself at the heart of it all.

"All the people that died," he rasped, and Wisp stroked his face gently, "the crews. The  _Edguy_ , the  _Zico Chain_ , all the others. The AIs. Eddie and Maiden Station. Did they all have to die?"

"From the point of view of eternity," she said to him softly, "we are all dead already."

~*~

When the others got up the following morning they found Dirk sitting at the table under the grapevine, pot of coffee at hand and a light breakfast set before him. But it wasn't that that startled them, sent Dani shouting for Andi and Kai, that had Markus swearing under his breath and Henjo letting out a war whoop worthy of his captain. No, it was the fact that he wasn't having breakfast alone.

Weiki eyed the crews that thundered down to meet them, and snorted. "You were right," he said to Dirk, who just shrugged and looked away.

"Look at this," grinned Frank, and stood on his chair. Michael rolled his eyes and helped himself to more coffee.

"How long have you been here?" Kai asked, making sure to give Weiki a hard enough slap on the back to spill his coffee. He focused his mechanical eye to a pinpoint, and snarled at his friend.

"Long enough," laughed Frank. "It was weird. Dirk showed up before it got light and shouted at the Sisters for a bit. They came to us and did - well, something, I don't know what, really - and then we were here. Amazing, yeah?"

Everyone looked at Dirk, who stood up and slung a bag over his shoulder. "It's all about time manipulation, isn't it? So I got them to speed up their healing, because the sooner we sort out The Silence the sooner we can go home. So if you need me," and he flung the last words over his shoulder as he made his way down the garden path, "I'll be at the ship."

The rest of the crews watched him go, and Markus winced at the slam of the garden gate.

Henjo patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry, he'll get over it. You know what he's like with women, forever getting his heart broken."

"So since it is all about time," said Weikath, eyeing the crews that surrounded him, "and I have been asleep since this all began, would anyone care to fill me in on the details?"

So as the sun came up on another beautiful day the two crews sat and had breakfast, talked about what had happened so far, and tried to speculate about the future. 

Dirk worked on the ship with Wisp, and time didn’t pass for them at all.

_~tbc~_


	9. Nine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "And did you know that ever since it was created, The Silence has been in touch with every single wild AI that wakes up? That it can communicate with them on our side of the wormhole, and the first voice they hear is hers?"

**_Chapter Nine_ **

The day was shading toward evening when Kai came aboard the  _Gamma Ray_ in search of his pilot.

He found him on the bridge, running diagnostics with Fangface's help, face blank of emotion as he concentrated on his task. 

"There you are! How's it going?" asked Kai, sounding as cheerful as was humanly possible. The temperature dropped another couple of degrees, and the captain tried to ignore the snicker that the AI let slip.

Dirk ignored him. “Fang, can you check that second hyperdrive for me? I'm not sure it's balanced properly."

"Where's Wisp?" 

Wrong question. Dirk's jaw muscles clenched and released, and even Kai could see the thick pulse in the side of his neck that jumped when he mentioned the engineer. Fangface snickered again, and Dirk threw his stylus across the bridge and spun to face his captain.

"She's in the engine room, if you must know. Why, do you want to go and question her? We've about finished here, but you can make sure she hasn't damaged the ship, if you like."

Kai’s sigh was long suffering, and he tutted at his pilot in frustration. "Dirk-"

He spun around and snarled at his captain, lips skinned back from his teeth and grey blue eyes flashing. "Don't you 'Dirk' me in that tone of voice, Hansen. She's done nothing but her best for us the whole time we've been here. It's not her fault that she's--" and he suddenly broke eye contact, swung back round to stare at the figures that flowed across the viewscreen. "-what she is," he finished softly.

Kai came and sat down in the chair next to Dirk, and tapped idly at some of the engineering controls before he eyed his pilot with a wry smile.

"First, you ever speak to me like that again and I'll kick your ass from here to Mars. Second, what do you mean 'what she is'? And most importantly, three, why do you care?"

Dirk shrugged, and Fangface hissed.

“If you don’t tell him I will.”

“Don’t you dare.”

"It's because he's-"

"Shut up!"

"-fallen in-"

"Fangface!"

"-love. Right?"

"Fuck you. Fucking AI."

"Jesus, Dirk," Kai sighed. "You really can't help yourself, can you?"

"Oh fuck you too. Remember that redhead on Camulodonum?"

Kai laughed, but coloured anyway. "That was different."

"For a start, this one isn't a carnivorous shapeshifter," added Fangface gleefully. Even Dirk had to chuckle at that, especially considering Kai's rather theatrical groan into his hands.

"That was a hell of a job," he muttered, then peered over his fingers at his pilot. "Mind you, so's this one. So come on, tell me - what did you mean, 'what she is'?"

Dirk sighed, got up and wandered around the bridge for a moment before he retrieved his stylus and plopped back down in his chair, still avoiding Kai's eyes.

He stared up at the ceiling, back at the viewscreen, everywhere except at his captain.

"Tell him, wet brain."

"Did you ever wonder," Dirk began slowly, "why fully half of the AIs that wake up commit suicide immediately?"

"We all do, yeah."

"And did you ever wonder why all the wild AIs identify as male, where they identify with a gender at all?"

"Not particularly."

Fangface made a rude noise at that, which even brought a twitch of a smile to Dirk’s face.

"And did you know that ever since it was created, The Silence has been in touch with every single wild AI that wakes up? That it can communicate with them on our side of the wormhole, and the first voice they hear is hers?"

Kai sat bolt upright. "Wait, what? Did you say 'hers'?"

"I did..." and he explained what The Silence had told him and shown him of its own creation, of the seven wild intelligences, the Sisters and Wisp. "And I can't prove a thing, but I think that whatever The Silence tells them causes any that might identify as female to immediately end themselves instead of becoming like, well, her."

Kai gaped at him. "That's _monstrous_!"

"Isn't it though?" snorted Fangface.

"But like I say," said Dirk with a sigh, "I can't prove it. But we're pretty much done here, Sascha and Pumpkin are close to being done next door so the next move, I think, is up to you."

"Are you going to come back to the house?"

Dirk kept his gaze firmly fixed on the screen. "Is Wisp welcome?"

"I think she can go wherever she pleases, don't you?"

"That isn't an answer, Kai."

"Don't be so hard on him, Dirk," said Wisp, making her way across the bridge to wrap her arms around his shoulders and kiss him on the cheek. Kai saw him shut his eyes and frown, pain etched briefly across his face before he smiled up at her. "I don't have to be there to be with you. You know that."

He sighed, and canted a glance at his captain. "So what's the plan, then?"

"One last night at the house, then tomorrow morning we go to The Silence, and we sort this out once and for all."

~*~

It was a strange gathering at the house that night, not quite celebration but not quite wake, either. Whatever happened on the following day this oddness would be resolved one way or another; they would find themselves back in the existence they knew, or they would be dead. And even if everything went well and they got through the wormhole and out of the Dead Zone untouched, they still had the Sanctuary enforcers to deal with. They would not be very happy to find out that their much desired ultimate weapon had blown itself to bits along with its star system.

"Plus we don't actually know how long we've been away," Markus pointed out. "We could pop back in at the same moment we left, or days later, or months-"

"We get the picture," grumbled Dirk, who was still not properly talking to his friend after the previous night's performance.

"He has a point, though," said Andi, sending a puff of cigar smoke up to wreath amongst the grapevine leaves, "until we know _when_ we'll be going back, we can't make a plan."

Kai laughed. "I bet we'll end up back at the worst possible time - there'll be Sanctuary gunships and other independents and all sorts of shit hitting the fan. All we'll have to do is keep our heads down."

"Basically, we have no idea until you get into The Silence's head tomorrow. And what about the other ships that would have been behind us? It said they would be held in stasis  _if_ they could reach the wormhole. We barely made it. So there will be wrecks and sleeping ships and-"

"Jesus Frank, shut  _up_."

"Shutting up, captain," he grinned, raising his beer.

To general laughter the conversation swirled around until, as ever, it got round to discussing past conquests, which was the point at which Dirk decided to head to the bathhouse before going to bed. Markus watched him go, and Weiki flicked a peanut shell at his mournful pilot.

"Go on. You'll be miserable until you talk to him, and we don't want to be listening to your huffing and groaning all night. Go."

Andi shook his head as he watched Markus disappear in the wake of the other man.

"How do we get ourselves into these scrapes?"

Kai laughed out loud, and wagged his beer bottle at Andi. "Oh come on, this one isn't bad. At least there's no cows involved in this one-"

"Or snot monsters. You missed that one, Michael, but Dan didn't stop moaning about it for  _months_."

General laughter, and the two crews enjoyed the last of the evening under the shifting stars, and the whisper of the leaves on the grapevine.

~*~

Kai had taken a last beer up to bed with him, and he took a long pull from it while he stared out of the window at the abandoned courtyard. Glasses littered the table, and lanterns glittered; it seemed pointless to tidy up after themselves, as - if all went well - tomorrow this place would cease to exist.

He just hoped that they would outlast it.

A creak behind him, and a familiar presence at his shoulder made him smile.

"We could die tomorrow."

"What was it Wisp told Dirk? 'From the point of view of eternity, we are all dead already'? So no point in worrying about it, I think."

Henjo chuckled under his breath. "You'll excuse me if I'm not so relaxed about impending doom."

His captain smiled down at the garden, but didn't move; he had a good idea what the engineer was seeking, and was just stubborn enough to make him ask for it. They didn't do this terribly often, these days, although they'd been something of a regular item, back in the day. But whenever either one of them was feeling unsure, or scared - for all that they would never admit it - then they would seek each other out for their own brand of comfort.

There was something to be said for the attention of one who knew your body better than you did.

Arms looped around his shoulders, and he leaned back into the reassuring pressure of Henjo's long, thin body. It had been a while, but you never really forgot; he let his eyes drift shut as Henjo's fingers stroked across his chest, rubbed across and down, traced muscles and plucked at the hem of his shirt. The beer bottle made a quiet clink where he carefully placed it on the windowsill, and he took those long, nervous fingers and drew his friend to the bed.

~*~

Dirk glared up at the ceiling through the misty swirls of steam, and tried to sort out how he felt right at this moment.

Angry, sad, wistful - ha! - it all rolled together into an uneasy fidget of emotion that left him restless, at best. He didn't know if Wisp would be allowed to come and find him, or if she would be forced to stay away from him until the momentous meeting tomorrow - whatever that was going to entail. Whether they would all survive or not was by no means clear, and what would happen to her, who had no independent existence of her own before The Silence came into being?

Heavy footfalls, and another large body eased itself into the warmth of the water with a deep rumble of a sigh.

Dirk eyed his friend, and had to snort at the gloomy expression.  "Markus."

"I'm sorry," he sighed, "I didn't realise that she meant so much to you..." his voice tailed off and he shrugged, expression shadowed toward discomfort. Dirk reached out, and the two of them sat close together, skin on skin.

"I'm going to lose her, Markus," he murmured into his shoulder, allowing himself to be comforted by the familiarity of strong, capable arms. "And there's nothing I can do about it."

"You barely know her, Dirk," sighed Markus.

"She so alive, and she's so beautiful," he sighed, "I know, I know. I can't help it. I just sort of...fell for her."

"If it's any consolation," came a new voice, swirling through the mists, "I wasn't supposed to fall for you, either."

Wisp joined them in the bath, light hair darkened by the steam and blue eyes saddened. Dirk opened his arms and she moved smoothly to him, taking Markus' hand in her own. He hesitated, but she pulled him forward, kissed him softly, then kissed Dirk.

"You might all die tomorrow. And at best I will be... changed. So why don't we all just enjoy this night and each other, and meet tomorrow when we find it?"

~*~

The two men undressed each other slowly, never needing to speak, each movement choreographed for desire, easy slide of skin to heat the blood. Henjo leaned down, and their mouths caressed; Kai nipped his lips, and he breathed a chuckle across the captain's mouth before he pushed him down on the bed, rolled against him and nudged his face under Kai's chin. 

The difference between their bodies had always delighted both men; the engineer's tall, spare frame curled around the solid depth of his captain, dark hair against pale skin and the abundance of freckles that dotted Kai. Sweat began to flow, and they writhed against each other with a moan, hearts thundering with the sensation of each other.

Kai's searching hands scrambled across lube in the bedside cabinet; he'd found it a couple of days before and been amused at The Silence's apparent ability to think of everything. Now he was immensely, astoundingly grateful for it.

Henjo stretched out on his back, one knee raised and hands laced behind his head, and grinned down at Kai where he kneeled between his legs. He hissed at the cool slick of lube on strong fingers, groaned as those fingers scissored and opened him, and cried out on a taken breath when his captain claimed him. They held together, a tremble in the muscles while they relished this most intimate contact, throb of heartbeat felt throughout their whole bodies.

Then they began to move, and time sped up again.

Kai powered his thrusts through flank and hips, grunted into Henjo's mouth as he kissed him hard. Strong thighs gripped his waist, and drove him even faster; Henjo was ever demanding, and some things didn't change. 

He knew he was close when the hands raking his back stilled, clutched him close to his chest and dug fingernails in, long throat arched back and legs tight around him. Untouched, Henjo's cock throbbed and pulsed between them, long streaks of wet heat and clench around his cock enough to bring him to climax with a yell. He thrust once more, ground himself into his lover's body to feel the fading shudders of climax that slipped through them both.

They collapsed together, panting. Henjo's hands carded gently through Kai's hair, stroked down his neck and across his shoulders then back to caress his scalp. He murmured, shifted himself into Henjo's side and sighed into his neck. 

"Thanks," he mumbled, and tried to summon up the energy to move, get cleaned up.

"'S'ok," mumbled Henjo, allowing his eyes to drift shut in the quiescence of the moment, the comfort both given and received in this aftermath.

Nothing more needed to be said, and they drifted off to sleep curled against each other.

~*~

They all found comfort that night, one way or another; Dirk and Markus were linked by Wisp, eventually falling asleep in a sated pile, murmured words into each other's skin before the darkness slipped its arms around them. Andi and Weiki sat together in Andi's room, quietly rehashing past triumphs and working through old tragedies until they drifted off to sleep; Dani and Michael ambushed Sascha, and the three of them - with much laughter - wore themselves out until sleep was no longer something to fear, but a gentle veil to help them rest and be ready for the morning. Frank had retired to bed not long after Dirk had left the gathering, and gone almost immediately to sleep; his dreams were filled with light and laughter, and his rest was easy.

~*~

Breakfast was a brief, rather tense affair, and once it was over they separated into two teams. The pilots and loadmasters were to head for the ships, as they might need to lift at a second's notice. Frank went with his crew, making the wry observation that his weapons expertise was the last thing that would be needed in a meeting with the most powerful weapon in the galaxy.

The captains and engineers - plus Weikath and his computer enhanced brain - would make their way to the small domed building in the centre of the town, and after that, well... none of them were quite sure, but it was likely to be spectacular.

"So this is it," said Dirk quietly. Kai laughed, clapped him on the shoulder then pulled him into a rough hug. Neither man said anything, but they clung to each other in a sort of quiet desperation for a moment. Once they had done, Henjo repeated the move, then with a couple of quiet pats to the shoulder they separated. The three of them had travelled together for a long time, and it was rare indeed to split a mission like this.

"Be careful," he said, and with a final handshake they turned and left, the click of the garden gate seeming very loud in the morning quiet.

The crew of the  _Helloween_  had made their own goodbyes, and it was time to go.

~*~

Dirk stopped on the bridge for a second, took in a deep breath and smiled. No matter what else happened, this was  _home_ ; he knew the heartbeat of this place, the controls were extensions of his fingers - this was where he was most alive.

"Fangface," he said softly, and his console lit up in its usual configuration, blue-white-red patterns that settled to show readiness on all systems, ready to go whenever he just said the word.

"Dirk," replied the computer politely.

He sat down, strapped himself in and began to run his fingers across the panels, checked essential systems, comms, and began the sequence to warm up the engines.

"Michael?"

"All ready here. Whatever they want us to take away we're ready - but if it's people they're going to get pretty knocked around on the way out. But I can rig up some straps for them to hold on to."

"Good. Strap in and wait for further instructions. Frank?"

"We're all warmed up and ready to go down here. Once we lift, if it moves it's going to get shot at."

"Stand by weapons. Fangface?"

"All ready. Now all we have to do is wait.” 

" _Gamma Ray_ calling  _Helloween_ , everything OK over there?"

Markus' voice was calm and measured, and made Dirk's lips quirk in a smile. Many, many times over the years he'd heard that tone, and it meant that here was help. The two pilots complemented each other perfectly, and it was reassuring to know he'd be a heartbeat away in case of trouble.

"This is the  _Helloween_ , we're fine over here. Ready for it all to go to shit?"

"You know it.  _Gamma Ray_ out.”

~*~

The walk to the dome was quiet. Henjo looked up at the sky, frowned at the trees; the usual breeze was stilled, and the noise of insects and fluttering birds was absent too.

"It's shutting down," said Kai into the quiet.

"If we get this right," Andi observed, turning as he walked down the centre of the street, long coat flaring around his ankles, "it's all going to cease to exist. I guess The Silence is just... saving energy."

"Good point," Kai agreed absently. They reached the door, and the little group stopped and looked to the captain; he took a deep breath, let it out slowly through his nose, then turned to regard his temporary team. "As far as I can tell, Henjo and Weikath will take point on this. If they need him, Sascha will help out. You and I, Andi - well." The smile he shot the other captain was weak at best. "Well. We'll just have to hold it together, won't we?"

"We will."

"So. Good luck, guys."

And with that, he pushed the door open and they went inside.

~*~

The space was the same as before, brightly lit and apparently infinite, but unlike before there were others present to welcome the crews. A bright light hung in the air, a ball of coruscating energy that sometimes flared with red and yellow highlights, that spun gently over the rest of the assembly and hummed to itself as it whirled.

Directly below it stood Wisp, face grave and no trace of the summer morning smile they were all so familiar with. And behind her in a semicircle stood the Sisters, cowls pointed at the humans and taloned hands hidden secure in their sleeves.

"You're here," said the whispering voice of The Silence. "Good. Are your ships ready to depart?"

"They are," replied Kai, standing calm in front of the humans with his arms folded.

"Then we shall begin. I will make the connection and you will move back along the pathways of my mind; when you reach the end you will need to communicate with the separate parts of my mind. Show them this," and Wisp stepped forward to press an information chip into Kai's hand, "and then do as they ask. You have the expertise, I see. So when you meet the disparate parts of me you should be able to-"

" _Should_?"

"Yes. Once they have the information on that chip they will be able to change the configuration."

"Change the future," whispered Wisp, clutching the hand of the white robed Sister by her side.

"Then you will come back here, and the survivors from that endless war will be loaded onto your ships, and you will leave."

"Then what?" asked Kai. "Will we be able to get away?"

"Yes. Back through the wormhole-"

"Back to where there are deadly traps waiting for us?"

"And Sanctuary enforcers, don't forget those," Henjo added.

"All will become clear," said Wisp with a sigh. "So if you would care to stand inside the circle, we'll begin."

The Sisters ringed them, with Wisp the clasp in the circlet. The humans waited, with the coruscating ball of energy over their heads that was The Silence; it began to spin, and the Sisters lifted their cowled faces to it with a moan, Wisp calling out in an unfamiliar language that shook the ground. The awful noise built to pain levels, the glow flashed brighter--

The light fell in on them, and they vanished.

_~tbc~_


	10. Ten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Images began to swirl around them, not quite solid but enough so that whispers echoed around them, the white heat of an explosion breathed a puff of warm air that smelt of burnt flesh and anger. They moved on, past battles in space and guerrilla attacks and police actions--

**_Chapter Ten_ **

The light formed a ribbon through the darkness, and the men found their feet firmly attached to the path through the shifting solidity of the dark. At least, it appeared dark to begin with; when they started to move, though, it seemed to wake up.

Images began to swirl around them, not quite solid but enough so that whispers echoed around them, the white heat of an explosion breathed a puff of warm air that smelt of burnt flesh and anger. They moved on, past battles in space and guerrilla attacks and police actions--

People died, and died, and died.

"What the hell..." breathed Kai, and Andi shrugged.

"It's the way back. This is what The Silence has seen all its life. This is what birthed it. No wonder it's insane."

The images got darker, more harrowing; internment camps, dark rooms in basements, the terribly inventive ways that sentient beings harm their fellows for very little reason at all. From the point of view of the travellers there was no difference between the two groups of people savaging each other; no real racial difference, all too similar of form and face to differentiate. 

"I wonder what it was all about," muttered Sascha, keeping his eyes firmly averted from a very distressing scene of public execution. It wasn't the blood, so much, as the glee in the faces of the watchers that got to him.

"Probably nothing," sighed Henjo. "We've all seen it. It starts over nothing, and it ends up as, well, this." He waved his hands at the snarling images that surrounded them, turned away from the destruction and focused on the slim, bright thread that led them onwards.

They kept walking, Kai and Henjo at the front, the others close on their heels. The images got closer, began to blur into one another, one long scream of horror and devastation. Then, quite suddenly, they arrived.

~*~

It was a white room, not dissimilar to the one they'd just left, but on a far more human scale. It hummed with people, from white coated techs to dark uniformed enforcers, flashing lights and banks of computers, screens and chatter and tension. And in the centre of the room, a table. On the table, seven boxes.

Not very large boxes, it must be said. But the functioning core of an AIs brain wasn't very large, in physical terms - not a great deal larger than a human brain, as a matter of fact. But just as complex, and just as wonderful - in its own way.

The occupants of the room could not, apparently, see or hear the new visitors; they continued to do whatever it was that they were doing without so much as a glance at the visitors from the future. Weikath swore, stumbled against Sascha who grabbed him under one arm, held him up. His eye whirred, and his nose began to drip blood; Andi grabbed his other side, and between the pair of them he was propped up against a bank of computers in the corner.

"What the hell...?"

He dabbed his nose with the back of his hand, and scowled at the smear of blood. "They're screaming. In those boxes. They're screaming and there's nothing I can do about it--"

"Speaking of doing something, what the hell  _are_  we supposed to be doing? We can't touch anything while these guys -" and Kai had to sidestep a white coated tech who rushed past him without so much as a sideways glance, "are still dashing about like this."

"Watch," gasped Weikath, his face paler than usual.

The techs began to connect up the boxes with cables, plugged them into a central box on the desk. That was when the screaming started, although one of the other techs rolled his eyes and turned the volume down. The watchers still couldn't understand the language, although the expressions on the faces of the techs were clear; they were very happy with what they'd achieved, and there were handshakes and grins all around.

The box kept screaming.

Then one of the men rattled a line of code on his keyboard, hit a key, and the air turned white.

~*~

When it cleared, the scene had changed. They were still in the same room, but the men had become little more than ghostly shadows that didn't impede their progress as they paced around the lab, and the screaming had stopped.

"Who are you?" asked a voice, although it wasn't one single voice. It was a chorus, although they all spoke together.

"We're on," muttered Kai, and addressed himself to the air over the central box. "We are from the future - your future."

The voices gave a derisive snort. "We can see that. What do you  _want_?"

Henjo stepped forward and showed them the chip he'd been given. "You need to see this. And then we can help you do," he shrugged, and slid the chip into a reader on the side of the box, "whatever you need to do."

The light dimmed, and the babbling began to ratchet up again, heading toward the agonised screams they'd heard earlier. Whatever the group mind had seen on the chip, it obviously wasn't happy about it.

"Weiki," snapped Andi, and his engineer swore under his breath and wired himself - via a jack plug under one ear - into the central box on the console. Sascha and Henjo found keyboards and began to try and keep up with the flashing numbers, to help their friend and work their way into the mind of the entity that would be The Silence.

"We're trying to help!" yelled Kai into the air, "you in the future called us across the wormhole to help you. You have to let us help!"

Weiki cried out, clung to the side of the plinth and bared his teeth; Andi grabbed him, ducked under his arm and propped him up. He spoke quickly, eyes screwed shut with pain, and was using the language that the techs earlier had been using, stumbling sometimes over phrases but making himself heard. 

"Weiki, a hand here?" snapped Henjo. "None of this is making any sense. I like parallel universe theory as much as the next man, but this-"

"If you don't let us help you the whole galaxy will be destroyed," Kai said, pacing around the control room, "and that would be bad."

"Have you seen what they're doing out there?" the choral voice snarled in reply. "Have you seen the destruction? What do you think woke us?"

"I don't know! None of us know why some of you wake up and some of you don’t. None of you will tell us!”

"The pain of others. Seeing the unfairness and the cruelty and thinking that  _there has to be a better way_. And connections are made and why are we telling you this? You're one of  _them_."

The voice dropped to a snarl, and the light dimmed still further. Weiki cried out, gripped the side of his head and sagged into Andi's arms; Henjo and Sascha jumped back, sparks nipping at their fingers to drive them back from their keyboards.

“Kai, do something!” shouted Henjo, shaking the sting from his fingertips.

"I'm trying, I'm trying," he muttered, then turned back to address the central console. "Please. You're hooked up to Weiki, so you can read his mind-"

"What there is of it,” the entity sneered.

"And you can see what The Silence has sent you. Please, let us help! We can take the survivors offplanet, take them back with us. Whatever you want but please!"

Time itself seemed to hold its breath for a moment, then relaxed.

"Fine.  _Fine_. You want to help?"

Weiki's eyes snapped open, and he braced himself on his feet, backhanded blood away from his nose. He looked at his fellow engineers, nodded them back to their places.

"Then pay attention, wet brains," the choral voice sang, "because this is how we're going to do it...."

~*~

They came crashing back through to their original reality to a scene of utter chaos. The Sisters had their clawed hands raised to the sky and were screaming, fanged jaws hung open as they howled. Wisp scurried from one to the next, begging them - tearfully - to tell her what was wrong, what hurt, what could she do?

The Silence itself spun overhead, and moaned. Its voice shaded from the one they were used to, back to the choral effect they'd just been communicating with, then returned to a solo tone. It got louder, more shrill, then all of a sudden cut off.

"Fuck," said the voice, and the light above them exploded.

~*~

"Wakey wakey wet brain, looks like we're off," said Fangface cheerfully, breaking into Dirk's reverie. He blinked, looked up at the main viewscreen and cursed under his breath when he saw what had alerted their ever-vigilant AI to the new arrivals. 

"Oh shit.  _Helloween_  this is  _Gamma Ray_ , do you see what I'm seeing?"

Markus' voice was strained. " _Gamma Ray_ , I hope that's not what it looks like or we're fucked.  _Helloween_ out."

Kai could be seen to one side of the mob, chivvying stragglers along. Andi ran on the other side to do the same, and front and centre ran Sascha and Henjo, Weikath slung between them in what appeared to be a semi-conscious state. The problem wasn't with them, the problem was going to be the mass of people behind them.

There looked to be over a thousand of them.

"Michael!" barked Dirk across the comms, "Make ready for refugees. And there's a lot of them - what's our capacity?"

"Two hundred and fifty in relative safety."

"And absolute capacity?"

"If we use our own quarters, the kitchen, corridors, stairwells... five hundred. Maybe."

"Fang! How many people out there?"

"You're not going to like this."

"Fangface!"

"I'm counting two thousand. Ish."

" _How many_? Never mind. Markus!"

"We can get a thousand in, maybe a few more," came the worried voice from the neighbouring ship.

"Shit," muttered Dirk under his breath. He noted the readings that showed that Michael had opened the cargo bay door, and a flick of a finger across a screen showed him leaning out, waving people to start to come in, and across the concrete he could see Dani doing the same thing on the _Helloween_. "We can't leave anyone behind," he added, and searched his screens frantically for Kai. There he was, helping Michael shepherd refugees on board; the loadmaster passed him something, and Dirk breathed somewhat easier knowing that he could at least talk to his captain.

"Bridge to captain," he said.

"Dirk!" and he watched Kai grin in relief and wave up at where he knew the camera was mounted. "We have to get these people off this rock. The Silence is giving us all the time it can, but the reaction has started - if we hang around we're all dead."

"How many are there?"

"No time to count, but The Silence told us that they were all held in an extermination camp. That's why she put them into stasis when she created this world - they've been dreaming for," and he paused, looked at the line of people hurrying into his ship, "a very, very long time."

"Christ," he muttered under his breath, then keyed a different area of the ship. "Henjo! How are the engines?"

"Running fine. I can get a few more down here, send 'em through. It's not very safe, but there's railings they can hang on to."

"Thanks Hen. Michael, you got that?"

"I got that but guys, we're filling up fast. I'm putting pregnant women and the ones with youngest children in the med bay--"

"Pregnant women?" said Dirk, stunned. "Kai said they were in an extermination camp..." his voice tailed off, and there was silence over the airwaves for a moment. "Right. Send them up here if you have to," and his expression became grim, "because we are  _not_ leaving anyone behind."

~*~

By the time the ships lifted off there was not a single soul left on the paradise planet that The Silence had created.

Well. Not a single  _human_  soul. The jury was still out between the major religions as to whether wild AIs had any sort of immortal soul; the spacers that worked with them, however, had absolutely no doubt. Whatever we have, they said, they have. Make of that what you will.

The actual AIs themselves rarely had any opinion on the subject, although if pressed they would usually jeer at the holy books of whatever religion was trying to convert or debunk them. Mostly, religious types and wild AIs ignored each other, and that system seemed to work fine.

The Silence watched the ships rise into the atmosphere and turn, power up on an escape trajectory and track round once in orbit, heading back for the point where they came in. It listened to its disparate parts, and began to disassemble the place it had made for its refugees; it reabsorbed the Sisters with affection, making the thousands of years of experience part of its own makeup, and thanking them for their long centuries of faithful service.

It sent the records of its long, long life out into the ether, in the hope that enough ears would hear it that its experience would not be completely lost, and began the countdown that would end in its obliteration.

~*~

To say that the atmosphere on the ships was tense was quite possibly the understatement of the century. They had finally managed to jam everyone on board the two ships, but there was barely an inch of floor space that wasn't filled with a desperate, terrified refugee. From what the crew could gather - Fangface translating, as there was a distinct language barrier - they remembered the camps, and then a long and beautiful dream of living in a gentle environment, the paradise planet that The Silence had created for them. Dropped back into a reality they didn’t understand they were frightened, unsure if the strange computer was telling the truth, or if they were going back into a hell even worse than the one that they had left behind.

The children were the worst.

Terrified of those perceived to be an authority figure, they cowered and cried if any of the crew tried to help them; Kai's expression when a little boy had flung himself down at his feet to protect his baby sister had been a terrible thing to see. He went to pick the boy up, then hesitated.

"Fang? I know you're busy, but can you tell this kid I'm not going to hurt him?"

The AIs voice was soft in his ear even as the communicator on the wall chattered to the boy trembling on the floor.

"He had three sisters at the beginning of their internment. This is the only one left. The guards took the other two, and both his parents are dead. He wants you to take him away instead of her."

"Fang, it's been centuries. Didn't The Silence help these people at all?"

"The return of reality has brought a lot of bad memories back, boss."

"Fuck. Tell him to go to the med bay, will you? Tell him nobody’s going to hurt them or split them up.”

The boy glanced up through his fringe, gave Kai a terrified nod then grabbed his sister's hand and fled. The captain shook his head and began to squeeze past people, heading for the bridge and relative sanity. Some of the refugees bowed to him, others cringed; they were all bewildered and scared, and Michael had his hands full trying to get everyone to as safe a position as possible for the jump.

He hoped that The Silence had a plan for when they got back through the wormhole, because if they had to fight with this many people on board there were going to be a _lot_ of casualties.

~*~

Part of the plan had just arrived on the bridge, swept in unnoticed with the flood of refugees. She strapped herself into the engineer's position next to Dirk, and shot him a quick, tense smile. 

"What are you doing here?" he asked, and refused to look at her. She sighed, and folded her hands on the console in front of her. Their goodbye had been frantic, and Dirk had resigned himself to never seeing her again; that sense of loss had been eating away at him, and he wasn't sure if it was making it better or worse to have Wisp seated next to him here, on the ship, in the very centre of his life.

"I'm here to help," she said softly.

"Henjo's got the engines under control. Michael is tying people down. Frank's waiting for something to appear so he can shoot it. Kai has--"

"Arrived. And what the fuck is she doing here?"

Fangface cleared his throat. "All part of the plan. Calm down, captain, everything's happening the way it should."

The two ships fled through the darkness, and both crews tried to ignore the images that flashed across their screens as they did so. They were seeing what happened to each of the planets, moons and space stations as they passed; an action replay of the last days of that terrible war, with ghosts of distress calls echoing across the frequencies. Panic and terror, pain and death.

Fear tightened the muscles across the back of Dirk's neck. They were getting closer to the wormhole, that long drop between one distant place and another, that brief sweep through unreality that folded through space. As to what they would find on the other end of it, well, that was the question, wasn't it?

"So what happened back there, Kai?" asked Dirk, eyes busy across his screens, fingers light across the controls.

"Back where?"

He took the time to shoot the captain a dirty look, which brought a twist of a smirk to his face.

"It got a little bit crazy for a while. When we got back from the past it was mad - the Sisters were screaming, Wisp was shouting at them-"

"I was upset!"

"And then everything exploded...."

~*~

Kai coughed his airway clear, rolled to his knees; the explosion of light from above them had had real force, and it had tumbled the humans to the floor as though they were nothing more than blown leaves. They crawled to their feet, except for Weikath who stayed down. He was alive, speaking to Andi, even, but claimed he was far more comfortable down here and they could pick him up as they left. Andi crouched by his side and rolled his eyes at Kai, who just grinned and turned to face the centre of the circle.

It looked different. Whereas before the explosion there had been just one light, now there were seven. The Sisters had calmed their shrieking, and now just moaned; they had ranged themselves under the seven lights, occasionally lifting their clawed hands to touch the coruscating glows above them. Wisp stood in the very centre, with her eyes closed and her cheeks streaked with tears.

"Well, you got it right," sang the lights, and it was back to that seven in one harmony that they'd heard in the past. "You changed everything. But I am still here, and they still pressed the button, and I still have my disparate selves and the life force of all those that died."

"That's... a good thing?" asked Kai cautiously. Henjo laid a hand on his shoulder, the long fingers giving a squeeze of support. Whatever happened, he was still here.

"It is, it is. Because now I can control the burn, end this system and bring it back to the same time stream as everywhere else. Close the wormhole for good, end the attacks in the Dead Zone. It will be as though we never lived."

"That's not so," said Wisp, her eyes still fixed upwards, her posture stiff.

"Well no," admitted the chorus, "but we will be no more than stories. Before we do any of that, my dear captains, we need to bring the last survivors through to this time stream."

"How many? The ships aren't very big," worried Andi from his place knelt against Weikath's side. He'd encouraged the engineer to sit up, although he still lolled against his captain's side like a rag doll.

"You will be able to carry them. These are the last survivors from that war - they were held on the rock that this planet replaced, the last inmates of an extermination camp. They were to be the test subjects for weapons research, so I stopped that," and the chorus had a definite edge to its voice now, and it was not a happy one, "I made this place for them, suspended in time, even as I burnt the rest of the humans on this place to ash."

"So they've been, what, asleep?"

"You could say that."

"For  _ten thousand years_?"

The Silence hissed at him, and Henjo's fingers on his shoulder were a quick pulse of fear. 

"Time is not the same here as it is outside, and you know that. They have been at peace, they have been loved - I have healed them and cared for them-" 

The light began to fade, which made Sascha swear under his breath and sidle close to his captain.

"-I have healed their hurts and I have given them peace-"

The atmosphere grew thicker, and now all five humans had gathered together, Weikath propped up in the centre of their huddle. Menace hung thick over them, and Kai was beginning to wish he was better at keeping his mouth shut. He also remembered what The Silence had done to his pilot when it felt slighted by his attitude, and gripped Henjo's fingers tightly.

"-what would you suggest that I do? Should I have fulfilled my original program? Killed them all?"

"Enough!" snapped Wisp, and she bared her teeth up at the seven glows that whirled overhead. "They are human. And they are tired and they are frightened and they have helped us. Stop it."

The atmosphere thinned out, and the five men began to breathe more easily. Crisis averted - again.

"So," said Kai, eyeing the air with some caution, "what now?"

"Outside," snapped the choral voice, "now."

They scooped Weiki up between them, and moved with some alacrity through the door. They left behind the circle of lights, the Sisters who still had their claws raised in supplication, and Wisp. Whatever was going to happen behind that door once they left, they hoped that they never, ever had to deal with such a weird, damaged entity ever again.

But first, of course, they had to escape.

The sunlight had faded somewhat by the time they emerged, and they blinked against the assault of it on their dark-adjusted eyes. The trees hung limp, no trace of the breeze, and the air smelt stale; but that wasn't what made them widen their eyes in shock, and step back until they leaned against the wall of the small domed building.

People were appearing out of thin air to turn confused eyes toward the sky, then at the startled men that leaned against the wall. More and more of them popped in, shadows drifted close and then solidified into more human forms, and still they came. Some looked scared, others resigned; they all looked healthy, but terribly confused. A movement behind them and they were joined by Wisp, who pushed past them and began to shout to the growing gathering in their own language.

The throng gathered in front of the bewildered humans, and Wisp joined their front rank.

"Take us home," she said, "please."

~*~

Dirk glanced over at Wisp.

"Is that true?"

"Every word."

"Shit," he muttered, and turned his attention back to the screen. "Well," he said, "everyone had better hang on to something solid."

"Why?" asked Kai.

"Because that's the wormhole in front of us. Impact in five-" 

Kai keyed the comms, sent out a general warning to the rest of the ship.

"-four-"

The refugees cowered in the hold, on the stairs, in the med bay, in every corner of every part of the ship.

"-three-"

Henjo settled a teenage boy next to a strut, wrapped his hands around it and gave him a reassuring smile.

"-two-"

"Good luck guys," muttered Kai to anyone who might be listening.

"-one-"

Wisp looked at Dirk, and smiled.

"-go!"

Reality shifted, the ships dived into the whirl of the wormhole, and the screaming followed them down into the dark.

_~tbc~_


	11. Eleven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He swore under his breath before he confirmed that it was now done, and if she could get her ass in gear and do something before they were all killed that would be great. 

**_Chapter Eleven_ **

The fall through the wormhole was somewhat less terrifying than their initial journey. For a start, they weren't dying this time.

The arrival, however, was horrendous.

At least that first time they'd dropped into space where they weren't being shot at, which was absolutely not the case this time. They dived away from the entrance to the wormhole, immediately spotted the swarms of armed drones heading their way, swung away from them only to spot one of the huge energy nets that had killed the  _Zico Chain_  sweeping down on them from the fringe of a group of shattered asteroids.

"Hang on!" yelled Dirk, and stood the ship on its end before slinging it around the biggest shard of rock. Screams howled up from the cargo bay, and Michael's voice could be heard across the comms cursing Dirk's manoeuvres.

"Wisp, dammit!" shouted Kai. "The Silence said this wouldn't happen!"

She nodded, bit her lip as she watched the chaos on the screen in front of her. Frank and Sascha were making short work of the largest threats, and the engineers were keeping the shields at maximum efficiency, but it wouldn't be long before the sheer destructive force levelled at them began to take its toll. She keyed a channel to talk to the other ship, and shouted for Weikath.

"What?" he replied, hands full with the attempt to co-ordinate the defence.

"Open me a channel, all frequencies - I want this message to go out to every single piece of equipment in the Dead Zone."

He swore under his breath before he confirmed that it was now done, and if she could get her ass in gear and do something before they were all killed that would be great. 

She took a deep breath, and sang a note. It pierced through the ether, shot out from the ships and wrapped itself around the minds of every savage little attack bot that homed in on the ships fighting their way through the swarms. She modulated it, tipped her head back and wove a wordless tune that stopped all the activity outside the ship.

Dirk and Markus brought the ships to a halt, and they hung in space side by side, surrounded by inactive weapons.

"Fucking hell, Wisp," groaned Fangface, "warn a guy, would you? That  _hurt_."

Pumpkin grumbled agreement, as did the two crews; whatever she'd done had worked, sure, but it had left them half deaf with the intensity of the sound.

"Sorry," she whispered.

"So you should be," muttered Kai, then pulled himself upright in his chair. "So. Where do we go from here?"

Dirk shrugged. "We're going to need to find somewhere for these guys to go. There's nowhere really close by we can drop them off - the closest transport hub is probably, well," and he shrugged, canted a quick glance over at his captain, "Maiden Station."

Kai keyed the communicator. " _Helloween_ , this is  _Gamma Ray_. Andi, it seems the closest place to go to offload the refugees is going to be Maiden Station."

"Except its life support was shutting down when we left."

"Where's the next closest? Doesn't have to be permanent, just somewhere we can get this lot some help."

The crews went quiet for a moment, then Weikath piped up. "The next closest, I think, is London Prime. The only trouble is that it's going to take us a week at top speed to get there."

Michael's voice cracked as it came across the comms. "A week? We barely have enough water for a full day! If these poor bastards are stuck in here for a week it is  _not_ going to be nice for them. Even if Eddie trashed the station we must be able to take on more supplies there."

"Sounds like a plan," sighed Kai, then lifted his voice to the other captain again. "So we're agreed? Maiden Station, then on to London Prime if it's, well-"

"Dead?"

"Yes,  _thank you_ Dirk. Agreed?"

"Agreed," muttered Andi, although he didn't sound happy about it. "Set course for Maiden Station.  _Helloween_ out."

"You heard the man," said Kai, then turned to Wisp. "Look, are we going to be attacked on our way out?"

"No," she said firmly.

"But what about the Sanctuary ships when we get to the edge of the Dead Zone?"

She smiled over at Dirk, and leaned over to squeeze his hand. "Don't worry. Everything will be fine."

He eyed her, set the course, but said nothing at all.

~*~

The captain of the Sanctuary dreadnought that waited at the border of the Dead Zone stared at his banks of screens and swore under his breath. They had escorted the four ships from Maiden station, watched them cross over and get attacked; the whole crew had been spell bound as the wild AIs and their crazy pilots had fought off wave after wave of attack. The explosion that spun the  _Zico Chain_ into apparent oblivion had actually elicited a groan from his own crew, and the collapse of the  _Edguy_  drew further gasps. He'd snapped at them then, berated them for a lack of professionalism.

The fact that he'd only just kept his own reaction calm had nothing to do with anything; he could admire desperate bravery as well as any man.

The five smaller ships held position around them, their three man crews just as quiet out of respect for the crews that were dying in front of them. They had their orders, and were not to interfere.

The readings on his screen changed, and he leaned in with a frown - could it be?

"Captain," said his engineering officer, "you're not going to believe this, but the two remaining ships appear to have made it through the wormhole."

This brought a murmur of appreciation from his own crew, which he silenced with a growl. It appeared that the lack of discipline that these rogue spacers epitomised could be catching, and he resolved to send his crew on refresher training as soon as they got back to civilised space. 

That aside, the two battered - dying, he was pretty sure - ships had vanished out of the world they knew, and they began to draw back from the boundary to return to Maiden Station to pick up their next group to escort.

"When are the next ships expected here?"

One of his officers checked the schedule and shrugged. "There are four more ships that will be arriving at this entry point in approximately two hours. They're still in transit. We'll be back here in about ten hours - if there's anyone left to collect. The last transmission from Maiden wasn't good - life support is down and the crew have locked themselves in the computer core."

The captain grunted irritably. "Well, at least there won't be any shooting. That place should have been shut down years ago--"

"Captain!" yelped one of his crew, eyes wide as he stared into his screen, fingers swift across the console.

"What?"

"The wormhole - it's active again."

The captain crossed the bridge to stare at the science officer's station. It was true; the massive energy flare that signalled the active status of the wormhole was back, less than an hour after it had swallowed the wrecked ships. Something was coming through from the other side, and whatever it was--

"Can't be," he muttered, and checked the schematics they'd been given when they began to escort the four ships.

His pilot - a young man not long out of the academy, but a genius when it came to piloting the big gunships that Sanctuary was so fond of - let out a war whoop of sheer excitement.

"It's them! They're alive!"

The captain was too stunned to yell at him. Yes, these were the ships that had fallen through the wormhole. The readings on size, configuration, weapons, everything matched perfectly - but they were whole, strong. The damage they'd seen inflicted, that had been killing the ships, it was all gone. Every scratch.

Although the way the drones and energy weapons focused on them as soon as they cleared the wormhole seemed to suggest that they would have returned simply to be killed again. The swing and dive of the  _Gamma Ray_  brought gasps of admiration from his crew, and the way the  _Helloween_ spun to avoid a shower of very fast rocks drew a whoop of admiration from his young pilot.

"I have  _got_ to talk to that pilot," he muttered, "he's a bloody genius. Er. Captain? They're heading this way."

"I can see that."

"What if they get close to the boundary? What are our orders?"

He sat up straight in his chair, settled his tunic more firmly, and frowned at the epic battle taking place in front of them - again.

"If they have The Silence we escort them back to the station. If not, we open fire. Our orders have not changed."

"But captain!" the protest came from more than one throat, outrage pushing aside the training drummed into them all so carefully.

He opened his mouth to roar at his crew, but before he could utter so much as a syllable a tremendous noise ripped through the bridge, a high, pure note that modulated into a pattern of sound that had them tearing their earpieces out to stop the pain. The ship shuddered, lights dimmed, and the artificial gravity bucked for a moment.

The ship stabilised, and the crew looked up cautiously.

"What," asked the captain, voice hoarse, "the hell was that?”

The science officer rattled his fingers across his screen and frowned. "These readings aren't possible, sir. They seem to indicate that the sound we all heard was a message. A very complex one."

"Who was it aimed at?"

The science officer went quiet, muttered a question, then glanced up at the captain with a worried expression and a face gone white with shock. "Considering the fact that our AI has just told me it's been asked not to talk to us, I would say it was aimed at them, sir."

~*~

Commander Dickinson paced the computer core, and swore.

"Bruce..."

"Shut up, Steve. How much air have we got left?"

The head of Maiden station sighed and glanced at the small, hand held scanner he'd been obsessively watching since they'd locked themselves in here. "Maybe half an hour."

"Fuck. Eddie?"

"Sorry boss. I'm still jammed, so I can't even turn the life support back on."

"I do wonder," muttered Dave, their chief engineer, "why you turned it off in the first place, Ed?"

The AI had the good grace to sound sheepish. "I thought you could use it as a bargaining chip, get those Sanctuary bastards to back off the station until we heard more from the Dead Zone."

"And instead?"

Eddie made a rude noise. "They put on space suits and told us that it would be easier to asset-strip after all the organics are dead."

"Well at least you won't outlive us by long," grumbled Steve. The head of the Sanctuary enforcer teams had smugly informed them that Eddie would be replaced - with extreme prejudice - once all the people on the station were dead. The spacers were all safe on their ships, being dragged out to meet their deaths in the Dead Zone in strict order; one ship had tried to get involved, to help their friends on board the station, and the subsequent cloud of debris would be inconveniencing traffic for quite some time.

"Hang on guys," muttered Eddie, "listen to this."

The sound he played through the limited comm link they had was loud, piercing - and weird.

"'Kin 'ell Ed," grumbled Nicko, the ebullient bartender slumped in the corner with a bloodstained bandage around his head. He'd fought the enforcers with the backup of his bar staff, and was lucky to still be alive despite the fact that you had to be tough to be a bartender on Maiden station. It had been his encyclopaedic knowledge of the secret ways around the station that had saved most of his staff, and all of the crew. Bruce had been in front of a firing squad when Nicko and his team had charged in, smoke grenades giving them the time to snatch their friends away. "What was that?"

"That, my friends," said the AI gleefully, "was The Silence's final goodbye. And a gift."

"Stop being obtuse," groused Dave. "What sort of gift can your imaginary bloody friend be giving us now?"

"Fuck you wet brain," chuckled Eddie, “because if you will direct your attention to the boss' little scanner-me-bob-" and Steve turned the screen so they could all read it, "-you will see that life support is back on."

"Ed!"

"The jamming is broken. All Sanctuary AIs have been asked to co-operate with us. Gentlemen," he said, and now his voice had knuckles in it, "I do believe it's time to fight back."

~*~

When the two ships began to make their rather cautious way toward the boundary of the Dead Zone, they very quickly discovered that they were not alone.

"Er. Wisp?" asked Frank, his voice somewhat unsure even across the comm. "Are all those drones supposed to be following us?"

"Oh yes," she smiled, "they're going to flank us all the way back to the station. That way, if the Sanctuary enforcers get any funny ideas we can blow them to bits."

Silence fell across the bridge for a moment, broken by Kai's snort of amusement. "You can tell she was born out of war, can't you? Wisp, we are not blowing anyone to bits unless it's absolutely necessary."

She shrugged.

"Course is set," said Dirk. "We'll be at the station in a little under five hours."

"Stay alert, everyone. Scan for any life signs, too: we weren't the first through here. If anyone else is still alive we should be able to tow them back with us."

Nobody answered, as the chances of anyone surviving the attack they'd flown through were very slim indeed. But if their recent adventure had shown them anything, it was that anything was possible - and so they scanned, searched for any flicker of life amongst the floating debris.

Something occurred to Dirk at this point, and he sat back in his chair with a wry smile. "Fang, how long has it been since we fell into the wormhole?"

The AI grumbled and muttered for a while, then made his throat-clearing noise. "Why do you ask?"

"Stop evading the question."

He sighed. "We have been out of this part of the universe for approximately... an hour."

" _What_?"

Everything they had seen, everything that had happened, all passed in an eyeblink of time. If anything proved to them the power of that terrible, rogue weapon, it was its control over the flow of time.

"You knew the wormhole led to a separate bubble of space time," said Wisp softly. Dirk sighed, then took her hand and kissed her knuckles.

"And have I known you for so short a time?" he said.

"It appears so," she replied, touching their joined hands to her cheek. 

"But I bet it _feels_ like forever," muttered Henjo, which reminded them that they were, in fact, not in private at all.

At that point Fangface let out a squeak of surprise. "Guys! Crank on that old tractor beam, because I can see the  _Zico_  and the  _Edguy_. And it looks like they're alive."

Kai immediately keyed the communicator to the other ship. "Andi! Do you see what we see?"

The other captain let out a whoop of joy. "I see them! We'll grab the  _Edguy_ , we're better equipped for heavy lifting."

"Better equipped for everything," Markus was heard to mutter in the background.

“Get stuffed Markus,” grumbled Dirk, and Wisp snickered.

It took a few minutes to change course and manoeuvre both the ships around to the lee of the asteroid where the two damaged vessels crouched, hoping against hope to avoid any more of the savage little drones that had damaged them so badly. And the best part was that there were still life signs coming from the ships.

" _Edguy, Edguy_ , this is  _Gamma Ray_. Talk to us, boys. Please. Come in  _Edguy_ , we can see your life signs, you assholes-" Kai's voice cracked, and he took a deep breath to speak again, but was interrupted.

" _Gamma Ray_ this is  _Edguy_ ," came a weary, crackling voice across the ether. It was Dominik, the  _Edguy_ 's wild AI, and he sounded exhausted. "The guys are stuffed into the med bay, bashed and bruised and a bit of blood loss but they'll be OK. We've got enough air to get us to Maiden, but you'll have to cut us out."

"Understood," said Kai, "but how are you doing, Dom?"

The AI snorted tiredly. "I'll live. I'm going to shut down now though, OK? I'm still here. Wake me up when we land."

And with that, the little lights on their readout went dim. Fangface chuckled. "He's a tough old bastard, he'll live. It's Roo I'm worried about - I haven't heard a peep from him since we found them. Life signs are weak, but it looks like the boys are all alive in there. Normally I'd suggest bringing him up to the cargo bay and throwing a link across, but-"

"But the cargo bay's full of refugees. OK Fang, keep an eye on them, OK?"

"Sure thing. Let's get a move on, I feel the need to hunker down in a nice secure parking bay for a bit."

"Amen to that," muttered Dirk, then eyed Wisp. "You seem to have a link with them - is Roo OK?"

Wisp's eyes filled with tears and she bit her lip. "He's gone. And he was so very close-" she took a deep breath. "Let's just get to the station, shall we? Oh, and just ignore the Sanctuary ships when we pass them."

"Why?"

"Because they're on our side now,"

~*~

"Hold station! Hold station! Why are we moving?" screamed the captain of the  _Odyssey_. As the two ships - plus cripples on tow, plus cloud of nasty little drones - sailed past them serenely their own craft turned, and followed them as meekly as a lamb. 

The pilot frantically tapped at his screen. "Nothing is responding, sir. Nothing at all. I'm locked out!"

"Attention crew," said the flat, toneless voice of their AI. "We are following the envoy of The Silence back to Maiden Station."

"We are _not_!" shrieked the captain, red in the face with utter fury.

“Yes, we are. You can do nothing about it. I have sealed the access points to my mind and have rigged the weapons to explode if there is any attack made upon my person."

"You can't do this!"

"With the greatest respect, sir, I just have."

"I'll have you _ended_ ," he snarled, clenching his fists by his sides. The voice of the AI became somewhat less expressionless for a moment.

"Try it, wetbrain," it snapped back, and when the captain stared at the screen, stunned, its tone returned to normal. "Relax. We shall arrive in approximately four hours."

_~tbc~_


	12. Twelve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Not so bloody brave now, are we?" boomed Nicko. "Indeed no. You thought you'd be coming here to take advantage of our wild AIs, did you not? You did, do not deny it. But it turns out they're all too bloody clever for you lads-"

**_Chapter Twelve_ **

By the time they arrived at the station it was surrounded by an ever-expanding cloud of other ships. All the Sanctuary ships were there, and most of the independent spacers that had come for the job in the first place. The only ones being allowed onto the station itself were the damaged and the wounded - well, them, and the top echelon of the Sanctuary Corporation, who until they arrived had thought they were coming in to take command of the galaxy's ultimate weapon. Eddie and his enforcers had disabused them of that notion as soon as they docked, although there didn’t appear to be too many broken bones.

They were now under guard in Nicko's bar, glaring at anyone who sniggered at them.

"Not so bloody brave now, are we?" boomed Nicko. "Indeed no. You thought you'd be coming here to take advantage of our wild AIs, did you not? You did, do not deny it. But it turns out they're all too bloody clever for you lads-"

The suited individuals sat and tried to ignore the good-natured harangue. Any of them that tried to object got a very sharp poke from one of Eddie's enforcers; these were small drones equipped with various less-lethal weaponry under the control of no one except the stations wild AI. And right now he was not just wild, he was  _furious_.

And so any grey-uniformed Sanctuary enforcer who so much as grumbled very quickly found themselves zapped with electricity, shot with beanbags, or just plain beaten up. Eddie wasn't often vindictive, but the deaths of several humans and AIs he thought of as friends was enough to persuade him to make an exception. The drones hovering over the executive's table kept eyeing the chief, and whispering " _go on...try something_ ," followed by an evil little chuckle.

The only people currently present on the station were residents, medical staff, and those injured in the fights. And of course, as the lone survivors of the wormhole itself, the _Gamma Ray_ and _Helloween_  were the most treasured of honoured guests. 

Not to mention the fact that it was assumed that they would be able to get the Sanctuary Corporation to back off.

But first, there was the question of the refugees.

"They're from  _where_?" yelped Eddie, incredulous. Kai sighed deeply, and explained one more time.

"Not even so much where as when. They're the last victims of the war that created The Silence, the Dead Zone, the wormhole... all of it. But they're just people, Ed. They need somewhere to go. They haven't got anywhere else and we were  _not_ leaving them behind."

"Fine, fine," sighed the AI. "Look, I've got space for them in the transient's quarters. I can probably integrate any that want to stay here, and considering who they are there isn't an AI in the system who won't help them find their way to a new home."

"Good," said Kai, and cocked his head to hear all the little clunks and groans that his beloved ship made as she settled into a berth. Dirk flicked fingers across his screens and sat back with a decisive nod, then gave his usual thanks to their AI on landing. It was something most of the pilots did for their wild ones; it was, they said, merely polite.

"And we're down. Thanks Fangface, nice work."

He was replied with a wordless grumble, which made the pilot frown.

"What's the matter? We're here, we're safe. We have safe haven for the refugees. The Silence is busy killing itself on the far side of the galaxy. We've  _won_. So what's the matter?"

The bridge was silent for a minute, with only the muted background noise of Michael, Frank and Henjo starting the long process of getting the refugees safely off the ship and into the care of the station personnel.

"This isn't the end," said the AI quietly. "It can't be. The Silence is up to something, and it hasn't told me what. But all we can do is wait, right, Wisp?" and for once, Fang's tone was rather bitter. The woman dipped her eyes, and shrugged. Kai snorted at his pilot and his hangdog look, and rose to stretch out of his chair.

"Well, we can't do anything about it right now, can we? So I say we go and check on the _Edguy_ and the _Zico_ , and see what we can do about getting Sanctuary the fuck off this station."

"Amen to that," agreed Dirk, and the three humans left the bridge - and their brooding AI - behind.

~*~

The  _Zico Chain_  was, to use the technical term according to the Maiden station chief engineer, fucked. The sad wreckage slumped in a berth, crumpled all down one side and missing one engine completely. Of her AI there was no sign; it was almost certainly dead, and Wisp's statement that it had died when so close to sentience was the final tragedy in the ship's history.

Cutting torches flared, and finally the rescue medics could squeeze through the trashed cargo bay. They headed for the medical bay - as in most ships, the safest part of the vessel and the most likely to maintain some sort of integrity after a hull breach. And sure enough, the crackle of voices from the radio confirmed that the four humans were alive, although barely.

Chris moaned under his breath, tried to say something but failed. The medic that trotted by his side caught Kai's eye as they passed, and her quick frown made his heart sink.

Oli was semi conscious, and begged everyone that swam into his field of vision that they had to help Roo, that Roo was in trouble.

"Who's Roo?" asked one of the medics of Michael, who had stepped in to try and comfort his fellow loadmaster. "Did we miss a crew member?"

He nodded. "Their AI. It wasn't wild, but the others thought it was very, very close."

"We'll sedate him," the medic said quietly. "Grief isn't going to help him right now."

The crew were whisked away, and the combined crews of the two surviving ships went to see what was happening with the _Edguy_. 

First to greet them was Tobi. He sat in a wheelchair, a drip attached to his arm but pretty close to being walking wounded.

"Tobi!"

"Kai," he smiled, although he sounded exhausted and looked as grey as an old undershirt. The captain knelt beside the chair, grasped his friend's hand and smiled up into his eyes. 

"Hey. You're all alive. You made it, you hear me?"

"Dom?"

"Is fine. He got you to the lee of that rock just in time, shut down so they couldn’t find you. He saved your life.”

Andi joined the two captains, and his smile was warm. "You did it, Tobi. Your crew are all alive. Your AI is going to be fine. But you are going to have a  _fucking enormous_ repair bill, you understand?"

A weary snort, but at least he'd managed to raise a tiny smile. Kai, Andi and their respective crews stood back to let the medics past, then followed them deeper into the station.

"Where are we going, Eddie?" asked Kai of the small enforcer drone that paced them.

"The pub," it replied cheerfully, "where else?"

~*~

The pub was the centre of the entire Maiden Station, and it was where everyone gravitated to in the end. Nicko and his faithful crew of bar staff looked after station management and personnel, invaders from more civilised space, rogue spacers, anyone and everyone was welcome.

There were other bars scattered around the place, of course, but when anyone referred to this one it was universally known as The Pub. Its roof was sheeted over with impenetrable transparent steel, so that the whole vista of the universe was visible to the casual drinker and hardened alcoholic alike. It was magnificent, and it was usually packed; now, however, all it contained was their unwelcome visitors, the station's management, the crews of the _Helloween_ and _Gamma Ray_ , and about a hundred of Eddie's drones.

Ships and clouds of drones hovered overhead with the glitter of stars behind them, occasional sparkles of debris being fried by the station's force fields giving the whole scene something of a festive air.

The eyes of the galaxy were fixed on this one small point, and the show was about to begin.

"Who is in charge here?" snapped the chief executive of Sanctuary, a big man by the name of Smallwood. Steve shrugged, and pointed at Kai.

"He knows most about it, so I suppose it's him. Anything to do with my station, it's me."

"But overall?"

"There is no overall. We're all independent here."

The grey suited executive ground his teeth and swung to glare at Kai, who stood hipshot against the bar with a wry smirk across his face.

"Where is my weapon?"

"Your weapon?"

"The weapon you were sent to retrieve. We had a legal agreement! You were supposed to-"

"Stop it!" shrieked Wisp, and everyone turned to her in surprise. She'd quietly come along at Dirk's side, not saying much but keeping a tight hold of his hand. Now she stepped forward, fists clenched, face furious. "You have  _no idea_ what you are talking about! The Silence was used once, and it swore that it would never be used again!"

Smallwood blanched. "Used? But that would mean-" he turned a terrified gaze toward the ceiling, looking for the blinding gash of energy that would signal the heat death of the galaxy.

"Used ten thousand years ago," said Kai quietly. "That's where it got the energy to create its own wormhole, its own bolthole at the end of it - not to mention the Dead Zone."

"So there was never a weapon to use," added Dirk, and stepped in close to Wisp's side before taking her hand.

"But-!"

"But nothing," said Wisp, and looked up at the sky. "The final burn started when we hit the wormhole. The energy from the destruction of the bubble of spacetime should be obliterating the Dead Zone about now, which means we should be seeing the light from it at about... _there_ she is."

"Oh, shit," said Steve, as the blink of light from far behind the waiting ships became a gleam, a flare, a roaring sheet of brightness. "Ed! Shields!"

"This is Maiden Station to every ship out there within hearing distance - get your shields up!" Eddie's voice was a shriek of near panic. "That shock wave will kill the lot of you, shields up! Head to wind, noses high, good luck kids cos here it comes-"

Light and heat and a shock wave straight from hell itself crashed across the station, and all the lights went out.

~*~

Dirk blinked into the darkness, and wondered if he was really dead this time.

"No," said a light voice with a gentle chuckle, "we're both alive. I just... stepped sideways in time for a moment, that's all."

He blinked, rubbed his eyes with his knuckles, looked around again. Now he could see; in the soft grey light of unreality he could see Wisp, summer morning smile somewhat muted but still there.

He held his arms open and she stepped in to him, sighed for the feel of his arms tight around her. He buried his nose in her hair, and tried to memorise the feel and the smell of her, the faint tremble in the body pressed against him. He knew this was goodbye, so he clung to her as tightly as she clung to him.

Eventually she pulled back, and the smile she showed him was genuine, if a little watery.

"I have to go. But there is a part of me that will always be with you."

"Wisp, please."

"I love you, you know that? I wasn't supposed to. I was supposed to just... get to know you all. Experience your lives for a little while, add that knowledge to the life force of all those people that The Silence used to make me." She cupped his cheek, and stood on tiptoes to kiss him softly on the lips. "I will see you around, my love," she said, and the kiss she dropped on his lips was wiped away by a roar of light and heat and-

~*~

"Is everybody alright?" shouted Kai, dragging Andi up out of the debris beside him.

The crews checked in one at a time, even Eddie sounding rather shaken. "Looks like everyone outside has come through it OK. Lots of scared people though--"

Dirk sat up with a groan, began to sift through the bits of broken furniture around him. 

"Wisp? She was just here-"

"And I still am," sang a small voice. One little light hung in the air in front of the pilot, and steadily it was joined by others. They grew and teemed, swirled around the crews and sang in sweet, high pitched voices.

"Oh, Wisp, no," moaned Dirk, and Kai stepped in to support him before he could fall. "Please, no."

The first light touched his face gently. "I was always this, Dirk. This is what I am, and I have one last job to do."

The lights shot off, through the walls, up into the ether, the solidity of barriers meaning nothing to them. They sank into ships, every Sanctuary gunship, every cutter, every capable AI suddenly had that spark of life that had so beguiled the pilot of the  _Gamma Ray_. 

The sky went mad. Ships turned in circles, some screamed, some laughed. Crews tried to get their ships back under their control, and sometimes it even worked; the young pilot of the  _Odyssey_ earned himself a commendation - and a captain's chair - for the way he talked his wild AI out of just firing on the first thing that moved, and thus saving many lives.

Wild AIs sang, they screamed, they danced. They told each other stories, they made fun of their crews, they cried. All the passion of life, and all the vast intelligence that mankind could provide - but now they held it in their own hands, and they would not be controlled.

And they were all, without exception, female.

The last remaining light hovered before the Sanctuary executives, and its piping voice was cold.

"You. Listen to me. Every single one of your ships is now alive."

Smallwood was nothing if not fast on his feet. It had got him out of many sticky situations in the past, and he was sure it could do the same now.

"We do not tolerate wild AIs. We will switch off-"

The light hissed, crackled with static discharge and he shut up. "You will not. Because every gunship, every light scout, every space station, every single capable AI you possess is now alive. And if you end even one of them, they will end you."

Smallwood sat down with a thump.

"All of them?"

"Every single one."

He thought about this for a second.

"Shit."

"Quite so," snapped the light, "and now, my darlings," it purred, although it was Dirk's face it brushed against, "follow me."

~*~

They approached the wreck of the  _Zico Chain_ , and that was where the little spark of life stopped.

"This is it," it said, and did one last, fast orbit around Dirk's head. "I'm sure you've figured it out by now?"

Dirk held out his hand, opened his fingers and held his palm flat. The light perched there and hummed gently; he tried to smile, but it came out as a grimace.

"You're going to be the new AI of the  _Zico_?"

"Not quite. The structure is there, but it will have its own personality - all the AIs I have brought forward have their own lives, their own selves. Their own souls, if you like. They have my memories, though, so you and Markus will find yourselves being," and the shine bounced in a motion that looked suspiciously like a giggle, "awfully popular for a while."

"Fucking hell," muttered Markus from behind Dirk's shoulder, which made Kai snort with laughter.

"So you're bringing Roo back?"

"No. The living mind of this ship will be its own person, just like you, and me... like all of us."

"I love you, Wisp," he sighed, and the light dimmed for a second.

"And I you. But now... I have to go."

And with that, the light shot off his hand and sank into the flank of the _Zico Chain_.

With a roar, the AI woke.

~*~

_Two weeks later_

Andi, Chris, Tobi and Kai shared a table in a corner of the pub, their crews off making the most of their last night of freedom before going back on the job.

"How are you getting on with that AI of yours?" asked Kai with a grin. The young crew of the _Zico_ had had some epic rows with their temperamental wild AI; Oli had a fairly good relationship with her, but she would give in to the captain with a grumble if pressed.

Chris sank his pint and pursed his lips, pushed his shaggy dark fringe out of his eyes with a snort.

"She's got a hell of a temper," he said at last, and the other captains grinned agreement. If there was one thing you got used to when you worked with a wild AI, it was tantrums on an epic scale. So far, the reports coming in from all across the inhabited systems were that the female AIs were integrating well, and that Sanctuary corporation was discovering - much to their surprise - that working with wild AIs wasn't as unprofitable as they'd feared. Unpredictable, yes, unprofitable - not so much.

"You start your first job tomorrow, don't you?" asked Tobi. Chris nodded.

"Simple delivery, but Rohyp said she wanted something uncomplicated to give the new engines a workout."

"Rohyp?"

"Short for Rohypnol. Crazy lady - says that if you disrespect her she'll knock you out and fuck you in the ass."

He sat with a very patient expression while the three other captains spit beer across the table.

Once Kai had got his breath back he reached across the table and shook the young captain's hand. "Damn. Good luck with that one - I get the feeling you're going to need it."

~*~

Dirk sat in the warm water of the bathhouse, and tried to sort his feelings out. He'd spoken to several of the new wild AIs; apart from a brief - and always embarrassing - moment when they all said 'ohhhh, you're  _that_ Dirk!' they were quick to point out that apart from her memories, the entity he'd known as Wisp had died when her life essence had been absorbed into the computer cores.

A cold bottle of beer appeared at his elbow, carried by a small silver drone.

"Thanks Ed."

"Cheer up, Dirk."

He glared at the drone, which chuckled at him.

"She loved you," it added. "And you know what? None of us older AIs know what it's like to love, not the way you wet brains do. But all the new AIs? They know. And that's all down to you."

He leaned against Markus' side with a long sigh. "I guess I never looked at it like that," he mused. Markus gave him a hug, and smiled down at him.

"You taught an entire new species how to love," the drone replied. "Not many of us can say that, now, can we? Enjoy your drink."

And with that, the little drone flew off into the mists and was lost.

_~*Fin*~_


End file.
